Baby Daddy
by lostbutnotforgotten
Summary: Meredith's Pregnant but is pretty much the last one to find out about it. Season 6. MerDer. Includes basically the full ensemble of usual characters as well. COMPLETE.
1. You Want to Start?

**Summary: Meredith's Pregnant but seems to be the last to find out about it. Season 6. MerDer.**

**Disclaimer: They aren't mine.**

**A/N: Okay so the time line for this is a little funky. This fic basically takes place in the ep "Sympathy for the Parents". Mer is about a month pregnant I'd say. Placing the conception in or around "Perfect Little Accident" (which always sounded like a great baby-making title to me!) The trouble with this is that it would mean that Meredith was practically in her second trimester before she noticed. I'm just going to go with it because that makes me laugh a lot. Anyway, Enjoy. Feedback is always appreciated. Especially any suggestions or constructive criticism.**

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**Baby Daddy**

Derek had four sisters. He had four sisters and 14 nieces and nephews. Needless to say he had a lot of experience with pregnant woman. (That's not to mention the 11 years he spent married to an obstetrician.) For this reason he didn't really think it was too terribly odd for him to notice that his wife was pregnant before she noticed it herself. The signs were subtle but he was convinced they were there.

The first time he noticed that anything was out of the ordinary was a few nights ago when he noticed that her breasts were unusually sore and sensitive. Next, it was her sudden need for Cherry Garcia ice cream when she's always been a mint chip girl. Also, she has developed an aversion to the smell of the scrub soap she has to wash her hands with every time she performs a surgery. Finally, he had noticed that her emotions seemed a bit closer to the surface these days. She had actually screamed at him in the middle of the hospital the previous week which, though he had deserved it, was a more than he would have expected from his normally private wife.

After some internal debate over what would be the best way to broach the subject he decided that it would be best to just let her come to the realization on her own. Best to let the pieces fall together slowly so she could wrap her mind around it little by little, because, as happy as she has been since they got married, she was still gun shy about the kids issue and was bound to freak out a bit. Yes, he decided, letting her figure it out for herself would definitely be the best course of action. But still, a little mental preparation was not out of order. He decided that he would help her to see that babies were a part of their future and not to be feared. He would help her see that motherhood didn't have to be detrimental to her career. And most importantly, he would help her realize that she wasn't doomed to repeat the mistakes of her own mother.

He lay in bed just watching her sleep and thinking about all of the wonderful things that lay ahead of them when she started to wake up. She looked at him curiously as she opened her eyes, perhaps she noticed that he was staring a bit too intently at the curve of her face (trying to imagine the same cheek bones on their daughter). "Well you're looking all thoughtful," she said while still blinking the sleep out of her eyes.

He knew better than to deny it because even half asleep she could read him like a book. So he went for the next best thing: distraction. "I was just thinking about how pretty you are." He had to work up some courage for his next sentence, "and also how pretty our children will be." He said it with as much nonchalance as possible but still her reaction was like he had dumped a bucket of cold water over her head.

"Children?" she asked with wide eyes, "Like multiple?" her voice raised an octave and he almost had to laugh.

"Child," he kissed her softly on the cheek, "Let's just start with one." He smiled but she was not appeased.

"You want to start?" Her face turned from panic to incredulity.

He knew that was more than enough for now and decided to back off. "I'm just saying you're pretty. That's all I'm saying." He kissed her and got out of bed.

He watched out of the corner of his eye while he walked into the bathroom to get in the shower and start his day and she stayed in bed with a wide eyed expression of panic. He laughed when he pictured her waiting until just after he closed the bathroom door then jumping up to grab her cell phone and call Cristina to freak out about her crazy husband. Yeah, he smiled to himself, she was definitely going to need some more work.

**TBC**


	2. Backup

**A/N: Okay here's Chapter 2. It's still supposed to be inside of the ep "Sympathy for the Parents". Just a little added conversation between Alex and Derek. Oh, and I kind of mention Alex's brother, Aaron, who randomly showed up in this ep needing surgery and ended up getting in a fight with Alex in the middle of the hospital.**

**Chapter 2**

To say that Derek was surprised to see his wife watching Alex Karev in the shower would certainly be an accurate assessment. But really, he knew he should give Meredith more credit. He knew she wasn't _watching _Alex in the shower. She just had no regard for the idea that it might be considered inappropriate to have major life discussions with her naked male friends.

He was surprised to see it, but not confused because as soon as he saw her in there he could play the events out in his head. Obviously Cristina had been too wrapped up in her Owen drama to answer the phone, and Izzie was gone, and George was dead. That only left Alex for girl talk. He smiled to himself as he tried to decide whether the term "girl talk" seemed more out of place when applied to Alex or Meredith or Cristina.

Derek recognized that Meredith would, of course, need to work this through with someone and was actually glad that it was Alex and not Cristina. He knew that Alex had been ready to step up when he thought Rebecca was pregnant, and that he had fertilized eggs to be frozen for Izzie so at least Alex wasn't completely opposed to the idea of kids. Still, he decided he had better have a talk with Alex about it. If only to make sure that he wouldn't just end up freaking Meredith out even more. With that end in mind Derek had paged Alex to his office for a chat.

As he waited for the younger man Derek wondered when it was exactly, that they had become friends. He supposed that it had been inevitable after years of living in the same house, being married to women who were friends that they would be fairly comfortable around each other. But he had witnessed Alex's friendship with his wife and his loyalty to her and Derek knew that if he ever stepped out of line Alex wouldn't hesitate to kick his ass. And for some crazy reason, that really made him like Alex all the more. Derek liked that Meredith had Alex around to be a sort of brother type in her makeshift family, even if it did make him a bit jealous at times.

Alex walked into Derek's office without knocking and immediately started talking, "Look, I know what you're going to say, and I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have been fighting with my brother in the middle of the hospital and I swear it won't happen again." he threw himself down on one of Derek's visitor chairs.

"You got into a fight with your brother?" Derek asked with a blank look on his face.

"Crap," Alex paused, "No," he tried to backtrack, but after seeing the skeptical look on Derek's face he gave up, "Yeah, but I swear he started it. Or well, I started it but he really pissed me off."

Derek just laughed but decided to let him off the hook for now. "Actually I called you in here for a more personal reason," he found himself suddenly a little self-conscious.

"Oh," Alex sat up a little straighter a bit confused but then had a look of understanding. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened in the bathroom. I swear she just came in to talk. You know how Meredith is with other people's personal space…"

"Hey, Karev, don't worry about it. I know Meredith, and it's fine. I was just caught a little off guard this morning, that's all," Derek reassured him.

"Oh. Well good. Then what's up?" now Alex was just confused.

"It is about Meredith actually and kind of about the shower thing. But not what you think." Derek started. He wasn't really sure how to continue but decided that bluntness would be the easiest way to go "She came in to freak out about the baby thing right?"

"Uh yeah," Alex was getting a little uncomfortable, "Look man, if you want me to talk her into having a baby then you are totally on your own. I mean I know she'll be a great mom when the time comes but that is totally your guy's business. I mean, I'm a little skeeved out just thinking about…"

"She's pregnant already," Derek blurted it out just to get Alex to stop talking.

"What?" Alex was taken aback, "That's great. Congratulations. It's kind of weird that she didn't mention that when she was talking about it this morning."

"Well actually, she doesn't exactly know about it yet," Derek started. This was that part that he wasn't looking forward to. The whole thing was going to be a bit tough to explain.

"What do you mean she doesn't know? How do you know if she doesn't?" Alex looked at him dubiously.

"Well I've been around enough pregnant women in my life to know it when I see it. She's been exhibiting a lot of the symptoms and just, well, I don't know… She just is. I'm sure of it. I think part of the reason she hasn't noticed is because it is still early. But really I think it's mostly because…"

"Because if avoidance were a sport, Mere would be an Olympic athlete," Alex cut Derek off, a look of comprehension forming on his face. "But why are you telling me and not her then?"

"I haven't told her because I decided that it would be best if she came to the realization on her own. You know, in her own time." Derek paused, "And as for why I'm telling you, there are a couple of reasons; mostly to do with needing your help."

"Needing my help with what?" Alex asked with apprehension.

"Well first of all, she came to you for advice about idea of having a baby and I know you said you didn't want to get involved, but I think with Meredith a little bit of reassurance goes a long way, and I just thought maybe if you could point her in the right direction that would be enough. I know she wants this. She does; she's just afraid of it." Derek stopped and looked at Alex expectantly.

"I don't know. She's got a mind of her own. I don't see what I could do to help her." Alex looked hesitantly at Derek.

"Anything would help, even if you could just avoid being overtly negative about the issue." Derek tried to reassure him.

"What else is there? You said there were a couple things." Alex wasn't sure what he was going to do, but decided that getting more information was his best bet at that point.

"The other thing I need your help with might be a bit more complicated. I have been trying to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't do anything that might, you know, be bad for the baby. Thankfully she isn't as reckless as she used to be anyway, and she hasn't been drinking much lately. But still, I can only watch her so much and I was just sort of hoping that you could help me out a little on that front. Just you know, try and keep her from drinking or lifting heavy objects or other things she shouldn't be doing."

"Don't you think it would be easier to just tell her? I mean she's gonna get pretty pissed if you follow her around babysitting her all of the time" Alex said, and Derek knew he had a point.

"Well, I'm sure it will just be for couple weeks at most and I really think she'll take it much better if she has a chance to work it all out by herself." Derek was hoping that Alex wasn't just going to go tell her himself now.

"Well, okay. I'm gonna go along with this for now. But only because I don't really think it's my business to tell her and I'm not going to sit around and let her unknowingly do things that are bad for her baby."

Alex was annoyed but he was going to go along with it; at least for now. That was enough for Derek. The conversation was over for the moment, and not a second too soon either. Just as Derek was thanking Alex, his pager went off and he had to go.

**TBC**


	3. Crazy is as Crazy does

**A/N: Okay, this chapter is coming from Alex's perspective which is sad I know, but I just love Alex/Mer friendship. The beginning of this chapter is from the end of "Sympathy for the Parents" and then the rest is just sort of made up by me. It mentions Alex's brother Aaron again briefly but just sort of as a side thought. You don't really need to know anything about him in this story. Enjoy.**

**Oh right I almost forgot...**

**Disclaimer: They aren't mine so please don't arrest me or whatever... I really enjoy the roller coasters at Shondaland... I just get board waiting for the big hills sometimes...**

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**Baby Daddy-Chapter 3**

Alex left Derek's office in a state of shock. Could Meredith really be pregnant? He wasn't sure that he was convinced that Derek could really figure it out before Meredith even with her tendency to avoid things that scared her. He made up his mind to watch her, and decide for himself whether or not he thought she was pregnant. But even so, he hadn't decided if would help Derek with his plan.

For the rest of the afternoon he was pretty much distracted by his brother, and so he didn't really get a chance to talk to Meredith until later that night. He was sitting on the couch when she got home. She asked about Aaron, and then comforted him about the fight he'd had with his brother. She'd said, "You're nothing like your father." Just a simple statement but with the way she had about her, the simple, calm surety she possessed, he knew he believed her and he knew for sure in that moment that she would be an excellent mother.

He'd returned the compliment telling her almost reflexively "You're nothing like your mother." And he could see that she believed him. It was almost like her faith in his ability to overcome his crappy childhood somehow gave her the confidence she needed for herself as well. When he'd expanded saying "You're good. You'd be good," and finally just flat out telling her, "You'd be a good mom." She'd smiled at him and he knew he'd said the right thing. He could tell from the look on her face that she wanted it. The kids thing. She wanted it, but she was afraid of it. He'd been worried before that Derek was pressuring her. But when he looked at her eyes just then, he was sure that it was what she wanted.

They sat in relative silence and watched the end of the news while she ate his cereal. As he sat there Alex decided that he would help Derek with his plan. Not because he liked the guy or anything. No, he would do it for Meredith, because she deserved to be really freaking happy when she found out. How hard could it be really? So far so good. Tell her she'd be a good mom. Check. Make sure she eats well. Check. Well, sort of. Lucky Charms were pretty healthy for Meredith. At least it wasn't cold pizza. He went to bed thinking this whole thing would be relatively easy to handle, at least on the scale of crazy Mere stuff. By the end of the next day however, she'd damn near broken his spirit.

It started off right away in the morning when he'd walked downstairs and caught her trying to lift the couch up. "Mere!" he yelled. "Mere, what the hell are you doing?" He ran over to her and tried to act natural as he took the thing the hell away from her.

"I'm trying to find my keys. I think they might be under the couch. I had them when I came home last night, but I don't know where they went after that." She didn't really seem in anyway off put by the fact that he'd basically just shoved her out of the way in his rush. He mentally kicked himself because he was pretty sure you weren't supposed to shove pregnant ladies either. But seriously, what the hell? She was like 100 pounds soaking wet, how did she think she was going to even budge that couch?

"Oh. Well, here, let me get it. You may be freakishly strong but this thing is still like 5 times your size." He lifted the side of the couch while she bent down and looked underneath. Sure enough, her keys were there. "Alright well, I just need like 5 more minutes and then I'll be ready to go," he told her after she'd fished the keys out from under the couch and he'd set it back down on the ground.

Then on the way to work, she went through the Starbucks drive-thru and ordered a triple espresso. He knew that in small amounts caffeine wasn't a really big problem for pregnant woman but he was pretty sure that was more than the 200 milligrams she was allowed. He knew he had to keep her from drinking it but he didn't know how. He just kind of cluelessly watched her drink it for a minute before he finally decided he just had to act. He pretended to go for the radio and knocked to coffee out of the cup holder. Then he watched with satisfaction as it spilled all over the floor of her jeep. "Crap! Sorry Mere."

He wasn't really sure that had sounded very convincing but she was too busy mourning the loss of her coffee to question it too much. "Man I really wanted that coffee too. I've really been dragging all week. Hopefully, I can get caught up on sleep this weekend." She said as she pouted at the new coffee stain on the floor.

The rest of the car ride passed in silence as Alex contemplated what she'd said. Exhaustion was a pregnancy symptom, so score one for McDreamy. _But really_, he argued with himself, _she could just be tired from lack of sleep_. It was inconclusive to be sure. Damn, he'd just called that dude McDreamy. Again. He shook his head at himself; he really needed to get some guy friends.

Once they got to the hospital Meredith started walking in the opposite direction of the locker room. "Hey Mere, where you going?" He asked from behind her.

"To the coffee cart. I should have just enough time to grab a new cup before rounds."

_Crap_. He forgot about the coffee cart. He was screwed. He walked to the locker room alone and while he changed he contemplated how impossible it was going to be to keep her from drinking coffee until she clued in about the pregnancy.

When she came in a few minutes behind him she set her coffee cup down on the bench and turned around to change. Seizing the opportunity he lurched forward and knocked the cup to the ground. She turned around and looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "What in the hell Alex?" she asked with her hands on her hips.

"Uh… sorry" he said, avoiding eye contact. "I… um… tripped." She gave him a look like maybe he'd grown a second head or something but he just shrugged it off saying, "Time for rounds," and rushing out of the room. _Really smooth_, he thought as he walked into the hall.

Alex ended up with Robbins while Meredith was with Torres so it was a couple hours before he saw her again. She was working on a little girl with a displaced shoulder fracture that would need surgery. When he ran into her she was getting ready to shoot an x-ray with no apron on. _Seriously?_ He thought to himself. She always wore the damn x-ray apron but on the day he's supposed to be watching her she forgets? Radiation exposure was definitely bad for the baby. "Hey Mere!" He yelled out distracting her just when she was about to shoot. "Do you want me to grab you an apron?"

"Oh no that's alright." She said cheerfully. "Lindsey here was afraid to get the x-ray by herself and so I said I'd stay with her. Right Lindsey?" The little girl looked at her and nodded. "Like I was just saying, it's only bad for you if you do it a whole bunch."

Alex decided that he better switch tactics. "Hunt was looking for you." _What?_

"What?" She echoed his thought, "Why?"

"I'm not sure, but he said it was an emergency. So you better go find him right away. I think he was down in the pit." He walked up to where she was standing with the kid. "I can take Lindsey's x-ray, right sweety?" He smiled and tried to put the kid at ease. He was going to be stuck babysitting some kid who only had a broken arm. Derek so owed him. Big time.

"Oh, alright." She looked confused but seemed to be buying it. "I'll go find Hunt. Lindsey, will you be okay with Dr. Karev?" The girl looked at him like she was sizing him up and eventually nodded. "Okay I'll come by your room in a little bit to show you your pictures." He smiled, and was pretty proud of himself when she left and he finished up the little girls x-ray.

He didn't see Meredith again until lunch time when he spotted her and Cristina sitting at a table in the cafeteria. He was going through the line when he decided on a whim to pick her up a chocolate milkshake. "Seriously Mere, are you sure you're okay?" He heard Cristina saying as he walked up and set his tray down. Then Cristina started putting her hand on Meredith's forehead; like she was checking for a fever.

Alex's stomach dropped. What could possibly be wrong with her now? Had he missed something? He was doing the best he could. He was only one guy, and she was a lot of crazy to keep track of. The stress of the day was starting to catch up to him. "What is it?" he asked, "What's wrong Mere?"

"Nothing jeez, I just felt like eating a salad. It's not like I've never had one before." Meredith said and Alex immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Actually Mere, it's exactly like you've never had a salad before. At least not as long as I've known you." Cristina shot back at her.

"I just haven't been feeling that well this morning and this salad was the only thing that sounded good. Especially the ranch dressing." Meredith took a big bite and savored it in her mouth.

"See," Alex said, hoping to put an end to the topic "She was just after the dressing and that's totally unhealthy."

"Oh Alex, who told you Hunt was looking for me? He's not even on today." Mere asked him as she finished off the last of her salad.

He didn't respond to her question, he just set the milk shake in front of her and said, "Here. I got you this to make up for spilling your coffee this morning"

"Oh thanks Alex," She said as she picked the cup up and took a big gulp. "But, oh my god, I almost forgot to tell you. You aren't the only one who spilled my coffee today. Derek did it too, and the crazy thing is, I think he did it on purpose!" her eyes were big on her confused face.

"What? That's crazy. Why would he spill your coffee on purpose?" He realized after he said it that maybe he shouldn't have put her on that particular train of thought. 'Why?' was a decidedly bad question for her to be asking. Oops.

"I don't know. He's kind of been a basket case lately. I think maybe the new job is getting to him. But this was just the weirdest thing I think he's ever done. I was holding the coffee when I walked up and he just kept glaring at it! It was like he was mad at the coffee or something!" She was gesturing wildly with her milkshake still in her hand. Alex was a little afraid it was going to end up all over him. "Then I told him how I really needed that coffee because you had spilled those other two and then, a second later, he just knocked it out of my hand! After he did it he just kind of looked at the coffee on the ground and then at me, said he had to go, and ran away." She paused very briefly, "You don't think he has a brain tumor or something, do you?"

"Hmm maybe," Cristina responded with a shrug. She paused for a second and then when no one said anything she added, "You think if he does it would end up being one that only he knows how to operate on and he would be totally screwed? That would be ironic." Leave it to Cristina to bring the conversation back around to surgery. The rest of lunch passed without incident but Alex knew he was going to have to go talk to Derek when they were done.

Once he was done with lunch Alex didn't have to look very hard to find Derek. He passed right by him while he was walking down the hallway not too far from the cafeteria. "Hey, Shepherd!" He called after him.

Derek turned around as saw Alex and immediately perked up. "Hey," he began as he leaned closer to Alex, "Have you been, you know, working on that project we discussed yesterday?" he whispered conpiritorily. Alex could see why Meredith thought he was going crazy. The guy looked like he had seen better days.

"Dude!" Alex half whispered, half yelled "Come here." He pulled Derek around the corner to an empty on-call room. "What the _hell_ are you doing? You knocked her coffee out of her hands and ran away? What is this second grade? Meredith thinks you've got a brain tumor or something!" Alex yelled with a kind of wild disbelief.

Derek at least had the decency to look chagrined. He squeezed his eyes shut and pushed his head against the wall. "I know!" he started, "I just panicked. I think between this and being Chief, Meredith might actually be right about me losing my mind."

"I think it's time to give up and just tell her. I mean you don't really even know for sure that she's pregnant. This could all be for nothing, and if I have to go through another day like today I might just tell her myself." Alex was glad to finally be able to vent about this whole mess. "Plus," he added, "The coffee thing is ridiculous. What are we just gonna do? Follow her around knocking her coffee out of her hands for the next 9 months?"

"Oh please don't tell her. I know I'm being crazy. I just want this to go perfectly for her. She's had such a hard life she deserves for this one thing to be happy and easy." Then Derek seemed to get his confidence back when he smiled and added, "Besides, I think I've got a plan for the coffee." He put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall.

Alex looked at Derek as he stared assuredly back at him and briefly found himself being sucked back in by Derek's returning confidence. He couldn't help but believe what Derek was telling him, and for one crazy moment he wondered if _this_ was what it was like to be McDreamied in the on-call room. Then he shuddered involuntarily and snapped back into the annoyance he was supposed to be feeling. "Fine but just get a handle on it so I don't have to keep following her around with a freaking butterfly net."

He didn't see Meredith again until the end of the day. He ran into her and Cristina when they were all on their way out the front doors into the parking lot.

"Hey Alex, you off too?" Meredith asked as the three of them fell into stride alongside each other, "Because me and Cristina are going across the street to do some drinking if you want to come."

"Drinking?" Alex couldn't believe his ears. Of all the rotten luck! Trying to convince Cristina and Meredith not to drink after they set their mind to it was not a fun task. He assumed. Not that he'd ever really had a reason to try it before. "Eh, drinking doesn't sound like very much fun. Maybe we could do something else?" Alex figured it was worth a shot at least.

Cristina and Meredith looked at him like he had gone off the deep end or something. "Drinking doesn't sound like _fun_?" Cristina asked incredulously "It doesn't 'sound like fun'? What the hell Alex? You practically live at Joe's and now you don't want to go drink?"

"Seriously." Mere added for affect. Yeah, if he didn't figure something out soon they were going to eat him alive. Then trying to be nice to him Meredith added "What would we do exactly?" He really had no idea.

He was saved when Derek came up to where they had stopped just outside the doors. "Hey, what's up?" he asked innocently.

Alex realized what they were going to have to do if they wanted to get out of this. "Hey Shepherd. These two are planning to go drink at Joe's but actually I need to talk to Cristina in private first." Alex tried to communicate everything he was thinking into his eyes while he looked at Derek.

"What the hell are you talking about Evil Spawn?" Cristina asked over her raised eyebrows.

"Just come here." Alex growled as he grabbed Cristina by the arm and pulled her away. Derek nodded his approval over the plan and then Alex saw him pull a confused Meredith into his arms and proceed to kiss the crap out of her. _Way to distract her McDreamy!_ Alex thought as he pulled Cristina back into the doors of the hospital.

When they were safely ensconced between the two sets of double doors he decided to be direct about it. "She's pregnant."

"What?" Cristina was clearly confused. "Who's pregnant?" Her eyes narrowed.

"Meredith is. Shepherd knocked her up," He told her simply.

"Yeah right. Like she would ever tell you that before she told me." Cristina started to walk away.

Alex grabbed her arm again and pulled her back. "She doesn't know she's pregnant yet." He said, almost cringing at how stupid that sounded. "Shepherd figured it out and asked me to help him keep an eye on her until she figures it out for herself."

Cristina just stared at him blankly.

"Seriously, just think about it." Alex decided he needed to provide a little more detail. "This is Meredith, if anyone was going to not notice they were pregnant even while it was staring them right in the face it would be her, right?" Alex was starting to think that maybe he should have stayed with Meredith and sent Derek in here to talk to Cristina. Although, that would create an entirely new reason why the kiss-the-crap-out-of-her method of distraction would keep her mind occupied. He shuddered to think about it; that would be a little like kissing his sister.

"Seriously?" Cristina's shoulders dropped and she tilted her head to look at him. "Are you messing with me? You're messing with me right?

"Think about it." He looked her in the eyes.

"The salad!" pointed into the air and sort of half-laughed half-snorted. "Leave it to Meredith to crave normal, healthy food!" then she stopped and looked him more seriously, "Hmm… and he doesn't want to tell her yet because she'll be all dark and twisty about it, am I right? I guess maybe he's got a point. Dark, Twisty and pregnant is not a fun place to be. Trust me. Been there done that." She paused again for a moment, "But you know whenever she finds out she'll still be Meredith. Unless Shepherd's planning on tricking her into a frontal lobotomy before that happens," and she was back to surgery. Figures.

"He just wants to make her see that kids are a good idea before she figures out she's about to have one. I think it's good. He's stepping up for his family." Alex wasn't quite sure why he was defending the guy but whatever. It was nice that he wanted to be there for his wife and his kid. "So anyway, that's why you guys can't go drinking. Because she's knocked up and would be pretty pissed later if she found out we all just watched while she gave the kid fetal alcohol syndrome."

"Hmm, good call. Alright but we'll have to find something else to do to blow off steam. Baseball maybe? She really liked that when we went before." Cristina offered.

"Baseball? Seriously? What if she got hurt?" Alex was starting to get the feeling that he was in danger of becoming majorly overprotective.

"Dude. Don't be a freak. No one has ever gotten hurt before when we played. Besides, we always wear helmets." She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.

"Fine baseball it is. Now let's get back out there before those two get arrested for public indecency or something." Alex nodded toward where Derek and Meredith seemed to be trying to set some kind of world make-out record. He would have been impressed if he weren't so grossed out.

"Ha, yeah. Besides that kid needs oxygen." Cristina chuckled as they walked back to the happy couple. "You guys know that PDA's went out in like 10th grade right?" She said after they got back over there.

"Your one to talk," Meredith said as she reluctantly pulled herself away from Derek. "You and Owen are so much grosser than us."

"Ha! She's got a point Yang." Alex laughed at her, "You and Hunt are completely gross." He kept snickering as Cristina rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. We decided baseball sounded funner than drinking, so let's all go do that instead." Cristina rolled her eyes.

"Baseball. Hmm. That sounds like fun actually. Der k, do you want to come play some baseball with us?" Meredith responded, nodding her head a little as she spoke.

"Oh, no," Derek looked surprised at the offer and immediately refused, "No. No, I uh can't… I have to… um, work." Derek stammered in a way that made Alex cringe. How could the guy be so smooth and charming one minute and a total geek the next?

Meredith looked at him quizzically. "Okay…" she said, waiting for him to explain further.

"Alright. So I'll, um, see you at home later," Derek kissed her and started to walk away.

"Derek!" Meredith called after him, "What the hell?"

"I have to work!" He called back and then under his breath he said, "Just keep her out of the house for a couple hours." The statement was directed to Alex who was standing between Meredith and Derek at that point. Alex was curious but just shrugged in response.

Once Derek was back in the building Meredith looked at Alex and Cristina and said, "Poor Derek. I think the long hours are really starting to get to him." She then turned around and looped her arm through Cristina's and the two of them started walking toward the parking lot. Alex just smiled and shook his head before following them out to the car.

**TBC**


	4. Seattle's Best

**A/N: Okay here's the next chapter. It picks up basically where the last one left off.**

**Disclaimer: A friend of mine recently went to a conference on publishing and new media and there was a whole forum dedicated to fanfiction where they said these disclaimers had absolutely zero legal basis. But they're kind of fun anyway so... These characters aren't mine and I'm getting nothing but entertainment out of them so please don't sue me.**

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**Baby Daddy- Chapter 4**

Derek was pushing his empty shopping cart through the aisles of the grocery store with a specific goal in mind. Coffee. Or more specifically _decaffeinated_ coffee. He didn't have everything a hundred percent worked out yet, but he did know that phase one of his plan would involve a ridiculously large amount of decaffeinated coffee. He smiled to himself as he walked. It might be crazy but he was completely in love the way his life was going. Well his personal life at least. He hadn't really let himself be excited before because he was worried about where Meredith stood with the whole kids issue but she seemed to be coming around very nicely and he was over the moon. Normally he would be a bit embarrassed to be so giddy (what with references to school girls and all) but how could he be embarrassed when his wife was going to have a baby? It was perfect. Beyond perfect. And happy. And every other word that could mean either of those two things. Perfectly happy. Okay, now he was starting to get embarrassed.

He saw the sign that said coffee and turned down that aisle. He was momentarily thrown by all of the different kinds of coffee available. What kind did they normally drink? He was just starting to get concerned when he saw it. Seattle's best. Perfect. It fit them exactly. He was Seattle's best neurosurgeon… She was Seattle's best wife… They were having Seattle's best baby… He actually laughed out loud at that. Not too loudly, but loud enough that the woman standing a few feet away from him gave him a strange look. It made him laugh a little more before he gave her a small wave and returned to his coffee.

He had pretty much put the stores entire supply of Seattle's best decaf into his cart before he decided he had enough. He was a bit embarrassed as he pushed the cart back to the front of the store and saw the quizzical looks on everyone's faces as they snooped through his cart with their eyes and saw nothing but coffee, coffee and more coffee. Then he decided to just forget about them. What did it matter what a bunch of strangers in the grocery store thought of his shopping choices. He was doing this for Meredith and their baby. Their baby! It sounded perfect even in his head.

"Dude, you are way too excited about that coffee." He heard Mark's voice before he realized that his best friend was standing right in front of him.

"What?" Derek asked. Really smooth.

"You're just standing there, grinning like an idiot, over a cart full of coffee. Seriously. What that hell man?" Mark was holding a basket full of groceries, wearing his very cool leather jacket and in general attracting the attention of every woman who walked by him.

"Oh I'm just thinking about something." Derek tried to act nonchalant as he blew off the question. "Actually, you know what? I could use your help. I need to do something at the house without anyone noticing and I know Alex and Mere won't be home but if you're with me I know Lexie won't come anywhere near us either." It was mean to say, he knew, but he just couldn't help picking on Mark sometimes.

"Oh, okay. What are we doing?" Derek could see that Mark was trying not to look too eager and he felt a twinge of guilt that his friend still felt like it was a special occasion when he was invited to do anything with Derek.

Derek glanced around the store quickly before deciding it was safe to say, "Meredith's Pregnant." He couldn't seem to help the proud look on his face as his chest puffed up a bit.

"What? Oh my god! Congratulations! When's she due?" This is why Derek liked Mark. Aside from the whole sleeping with Addison thing he had always been a good friend. Mark was a good guy to have in your corner. He was always quick with congratulations when things were going good in your life and he was ready to lend a hand in times of trouble. As Mark continued gushing he shook Derek's hand and reached over to slap him on the back turning it into more of a hug than a handshake. "You guys are gonna make great parents. I can't believe I haven't heard anything about this through the rumor mill. You guys must be doing a really good job of keeping this a secret."

"Oh, you have no idea," Derek looked around again to make sure the coast was still clear. "But seriously it is a secret so don't tell anyone." Derek gave his friend a stern look before adding, "So I need your help with this thing. Do you want to just ride to my house with me and I'll explain on the way?"

"Yeah, sounds great man. I don't really have any big plans tonight anyway." Mark said, ready to help.

The two men went through the checkout line and were pulling out onto the street before Mark finally asked, "Okay, so what's the big plan? Something nice for Meredith and the baby?"

"Well it is nice for them but to explain I'll have to start from the beginning." He paused; this was still kind of weird to say. "Meredith doesn't actually know she's pregnant yet. She is, I can tell, but I've been around a lot of pregnant women and could probably spot one from a mile off. Meredith on the other hand has only had experience with the ones she's seen at work and that's a pretty limited amount of access in our specialty. Plus, naturally being Meredith, there has to be a certain amount of denial working for her too."

Mark jumped in here, "Wait so you're telling me that you know she's pregnant but she doesn't?"

"Yes." Derek said with a smile.

"And you didn't just tell her?"

"No." Derek smiled again.

"Can I ask why the hell not?" Mark definitely thought he was crazy.

"You can." Derek couldn't help it. This was kind of fun.

"Dude," was Mark's only response.

Derek drew in a breath before deciding to take pity on his friend and just spit it out, "Fine. Okay, so she's Meredith right? And that means there is always going to be a certain level of emotional baggage and but I think that this time it's working for her. She hasn't noticed she's pregnant yet for a reason. Don't get me wrong it is still very pretty and a lot of women go longer than this without figuring it out. But Mere needs the time to process it herself. To come to terms with it on her own. I'm going to give it to her." Derek just looked at Mark to see what he thought.

"Okay. Fine. Whatever. It's totally your business and I'm not going to argue with you even if I understood your logic well enough to disagree." Mark shrugged it off. "But where do I come in? What is it we're doing tonight?"

Derek sighed, "Well just because I think she should figure it out herself doesn't mean I'm content to sit around until she does and just let her unwittingly do things that could be bad for the baby. Plus, she would probably kill me if she found out that I had."

"So we're baby proofing Meredith?" Mark asked incredulously.

"Hmm, I guess so." Derek paused to contemplate that for a moment before continuing with his explanation, "So tonight the goal is coffee. I just need to switch all of the caffeinated coffee to decaf anywhere that Meredith might drink the coffee. I'm going to start at the house and then next will be the nurse's stations and the lounges at the hospital." This wouldn't really be that hard, it was just a matter of staying ahead of the game.

Mark laughed, "So you are going to inflict decaffeinated coffee on the whole hospital just to satisfy your own troubled mind? Man, it's true what they say about your ego."

"Whatever. Do you want to help or not?" Derek was a bit offended that Mark Sloan, of all people, was calling him arrogant.

"Sure. Why not?" was Mark's response as they pulled into the driveway at Meredith and Derek's house.

It was after they were in the house and they were done dumping out all of the old coffee and switching it for the new stuff when Mark asked, "So you're gonna be a dad huh? That's got to feel pretty good."

The two men were just sitting on the counter drinking a couple of beers trying to gear themselves up to go to the hospital and finish what they'd started. Derek couldn't help but smile as he thought about Mark's comment, "It really does. It's just so amazing. I'm going to be a dad. With Meredith. I'm so in love with the whole idea already and it's still so new. But you have to have some idea, right? With Little Sloan and all."

Mark sighed, "Well yes and no. I mean she's amazing and I can't even believe how much I love her but in a lot of ways it sometimes feels like it might be too late for us, you know? Like I missed my chance to really be her dad. It's great and I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world but, I don't know, it'll never be perfect like it is with you and Grey."

Derek scoffed, "You think Meredith and I are perfect?"

"Well yeah. I mean you guys have your problems but you're like soulmates or whatever. Don't you? Think it's pretty perfect?" Mark seemed a bit less sure.

Derek smiled for a second before responding, "Yeah, I guess we kind of are." He paused, "Hmm, we didn't start out that way, but I guess we've gotten there somehow. A lot of the time anyway."

Before either of them could say more they heard the front door open and Meredith and Alex come in talking. "I still can't believe you did that. I mean seriously, what the hell Alex," Meredith's voice trailed into Derek in the kitchen as he and Mark froze.

"Oops," Said Derek, "I guess we sat here too long." As he said it Meredith came into the kitchen with Alex trailing behind her sporting a very black eye. Derek's eyes got wide before he asked, "Karev, what the hell happened to you?"

"Oh, Mr. suddenly gallant over here thought the ball was going to hit me and so decided to jump in front of it," Meredith answered for Alex as she pushed him down in the chair and walked over to the freezer. "I mean really Alex, not only was that ball like nowhere near me, but who the hell asked you to jump in front of it even if it was?" Alex gave Derek a pointed look behind Meredith's back as she rummaged through the freezer. "And why the hell do we not own an ice pack? Like 20 doctors have lived here over the years!" She pulled out a bag of frozen peas and walked back over to Alex.

"Karev got hit in the face with a baseball?" Mark just laughed as Meredith put the peas on Alex's face and then felt around for fractures.

"Dude shut up. Mere I'm fine. Really, sorry I tried to keep you from getting hit really hard with a baseball. Next time I'll know better." While he was talking he stood up then walked over to the fridge and got a beer before heading to the kitchen door. "I'm going to bed," and then he was gone.

"Hey," Meredith smiled at Derek as if she only at that moment fully comprehended that he was in the room, "I thought you had to work?"

"Oh um yeah, Mark and I were working on it but we had to come get some files out of my office here." Derek covered. He was rather pleased with himself. That was about as smoothly as he'd managed to lie to her all day.

"Oh. So you're leaving again?" Meredith almost pouted.

"Oh, well actually Big Grey, I can finish it up on my own. Now that I've had Derek's help on the chiefly stuff." Then he paused and looked at Derek as he said, "I can go back to the hospital and finish up on my own but I'll need to take your car, since you were my ride."

"Oh, really? I mean, I can come. It'd be fine. You shouldn't have to do all that work by yourself." Derek was a bit taken aback. Mark was willing to go do the crazy coffee thing by himself. He really didn't give his best friend enough credit sometimes.

"No, don't be silly. Stay here with your wife. I mean what do I have going on anyway?" Mark seemed a little wistful when he finished up but Derek was really happy to get to stay home with Meredith. With their warring schedules sometimes if felt like he only get to see her at work.

With everything settled, Mark left pretty quickly, leaving Derek and Meredith alone together for the first time in what seemed like ages. Meredith looked at him with a smile and said, "Alone at last Dr. Shepherd. Whatever shall we do?" She walked over and kissed him hard.

"Oh I don't know. Wanna watch some TV? They're probably replaying the game somewhere." He teased her.

She slapped him lightly on the arm, "Really Derek, you don't get to kiss me like you did earlier and then make me go play baseball with my friends." She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him again, more slowly this time. Then with a low voice she added, "I couldn't get you out of my head the whole time. Alex really did have to save me from getting hit by the ball, because all I could think about was you." And with her mouth right next to his ear she whispered, "With your tongue in my mouth." Derek growled before pushing her up against the counter and kissing her thoroughly. "Mmm yeah, like that," She said with sparkling eyes. Then she grabbed his hand and pulled him up the stairs to bed.

**TBC**

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**A/N 2: Okay so it's now been a few hours since I wrote this and having established some editorial distance I think the whole tongue in the mouth this might come off as a bit weird. So I just thought I'd mention, for those who didn't catch the reference, that it is actually sort of a reference to an ep in like later 4th season (maybe 13 or 14) when Meredith tells her therapist that she needs some therapeutic tools so that she can stop imagining Derek's tongue in her mouth because she's having trouble focusing on work. I don't know why that stuck with me, it just always really cracked me up. So anyway, just wanted to mention that so maybe you guys would find that less weird... Although maybe writing a paragraph about it actually makes it weirder...**


	5. Attack of the Body Snatchers

**A/N: Okay here it is, Chapter 5. It takes place in the 6th season episode "Hook Line and Sinner". You don't really need to have seen the ep to understand the chapter but it might make it more fun. As a refresher: That's the ep where Meredith discovers that April has a thing for Derek and after spending the day in varying states of annoyed and worried she eventually seduces Derek in the conference room. I feel like maybe there was more to the episode than that but really who cares right? That was the MerDer part. This whole chapter is all from Meredith's perspective but I tried not to repeat too much of what actually happened in the episode. This sort of takes place behind the ep I guess. I don't know. It doesn't really matter. I don't think you guys should really have any trouble getting it. Anyway, I hope you like it. I think this was my favorite chapter to write so far.**

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Chapter 5

Her scrub pants didn't fit. She didn't freaking believe it. She'd been the same size since like 9th grade and today, all of the sudden, she couldn't get her ass into her scrub pants? How did things like this even happen? Her entire life she'd always been borderline too skinny. She'd actually been teased about it as a child. So she really didn't mind the added weight as such (if indeed that was what was happening). What bugged her was what the weight represented. She was getting old. That had to be it. She was getting old and her metabolism was going the way of the dinosaurs. She cringed inwardly, thinking that dinosaur references were just about the last thing she needed at that moment. She couldn't freaking believe it. She'd heard women say that they'd just woken up one day and couldn't eat french fries or pizza anymore but she never thought it would happen to her. And she was barely into her 30s too. She was going to have to start eating like Derek. That food would kill her faster than any cold pizza ever would and she was much too young to die.

She was, however, faced with a much more immediate problem than her imminent mortality. She had no pants to wear to work. She might have been able to stuff herself into her regular pants but what if, god forbid, she split the ass out of them? In public? No, definitely a bad idea. That would be all she needed. She just had no experience with this problem. She didn't know what she was going to do. And then suddenly, she knew the answer.

She found Lexie charting at the nurses' station, "Hey Lexie, I need your help." She said with barely more than a whisper.

"What's up?" Lexie's face showed concern and eagerness in equal parts. It was still sort of a novelty for Meredith to come to her for any reason, let alone for an actual problem.

"Do you still have those scrub pants with the elastic waist?" Meredith asked, and when Lexie just looked confused she added, "The ones you wore while Derek and Mark were fighting and you were eating your pain?"

"Oh yeah! They're in my locker. Why?" Lexie still seemed confused but at least she was following the conversation now.

"I need to borrow them." Meredith said while not meeting her sister's eyes.

"Why?" Lexie asked innocently.

"Will you just come get them for me?" Meredith snapped. She knew she was being a little harsh with Lexie but she had a right. Her ass was like growing by the minute or something.

"Yeah okay. Let's go," and the two of them made their way back to the residents' locker room.

They walked to Lexie's locker where the scrub pants were neatly folded and sitting in the bottom of her cubby. Meredith immediately dropped her pants and nervously pulled on Lexie's larger scrubs. When they pulled up without any trouble she breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks Lexie, you're a good friend," then her gaze softened. "A good sister," she added, smiling slightly.

A big smile broke out on Lexie's face and Meredith was pretty sure Lexie was holding herself back from hugging her. Then she was confused again and hesitantly asked, "Your pants don't fit?"

"No," Meredith sighed and threw herself onto the bench holding her head in her hands. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm getting old I guess. Now it's my metabolism, next it will probably be my sex drive and then I'll start getting wrinkles and suddenly Derek will realize that he's married to some wrinkly, dried up, fat old lady and he's going to decide to make a break for it while he still can." Meredith was mortified to realize that she was starting to cry. What the hell was wrong with her?

"Oh! Oh no," and now on top of everything, she was scaring the crap out of Lexie who, Meredith was sure, had never actually seen her cry before. "Oh. It's okay. Meredith really, A) that's so no what is going to happen and B) even if you were all of those things Derek would still love you and still want to be with you. You guys belong together." Meredith was so completely humiliated. At least it was just Lexie in here with her. Why the hell was she crying over this? It was ridiculous but, just, why didn't her damn pants fit? And she started crying all over again.

Just then Alex walked into the locker room and upon taking in the scene in front of him turned on Lexie. "Dude, what the hell did you do to her?" He accused.

Lexie held up her hands and backed away from Meredith. "I swear to god I didn't do anything. One minute she was fine and then the next minute she was crying!" Lexie's eyes were very wide.

"No way. Meredith doesn't cry. Like ever," he turned his attention to Meredith who was doing everything in her power to pull herself back together. "Mere? Mere, are you okay? Did Shepherd do something? Do you want me to kick his ass?" he snapped his fingers in front of her face.

Meredith just sniffled, wiped her nose on her sleeve and looked up at Alex, "I'm okay," she said with a hiccup. "I'll be okay," she amended, "Lexie's helping." She attempted a brave smile. She really didn't want to tell him about the elastic pants or her big fat ass.

"Okay well, I brought you this Mocha Latte," he set the coffee cup on the bench next to her, "So I'm just going to go and, you know, let you guys have your privacy, but I'll be around if you need anything," he backed slowly out of the room. He really was a good man, even if he could be a bit rough around the edges. She smiled very slightly.

Then Lexie brought her back to reality, "Not that I'm complaining, but why is it that my boyfriend went and got you coffee when he barely manages to be civil to me half the time?" Lexie flopped down on the bench next to her sister.

"Oh Lexie, I'm sorry. He's a wonderful guy when he wants to be," she paused before adding, "He can also be a major jerk if he wants to be." Then she sighed before saying, "Tell me something that's happening that has nothing to do with your jerky boyfriend or my fat ass."

Lexie paused for a moment. "Hmm, well, did you hear that Little Sloan had the baby?" She asked

Oh, that was news. "No, I didn't know that. When did she have it?" Meredith really was grateful for the topic change.

Lexie got situated to tell the story, "Well I don't really know too much about it. I just heard Cristina and Callie talking about it when they came in. I guess she gave birth on Mark's kitchen floor."

"Wow, really? I didn't think she was even staying there." Meredith interjected.

Lexie continued, "I really have no idea. I don't really talk to Mark much these days you know. But apparently he came over to their apartment screaming like a crazy person and calling for Arizona but they were all so confused that by the time they got back over to Mark's place Sloan had already given birth."

"Wow that's crazy. Thanks Lexie," she stood up and grabbed her coffee off the bench, "I have to go to rounds but maybe I'll see you later for lunch or something." She walked to the door and just before walking out turned and said, "Really, thanks so much Lexie. I don't know what I'd do without you."

The morning went by pretty smoothly. Alex wasn't the last one to bring her a coffee though. Next it was Derek, which she didn't think was all that unusual. But when Mark brought her a cappuccino she started to get suspicious. Why were all of the guys in her life acting crazy?

It was a few hours before she caught up to Cristina who was standing on the catwalk. Meredith was excited to get the details about little Sloan's baby, but Cristina was completely wrapped up in spying on Tom Evens, a famous surgeon who was meeting with Derek in his office.

The two men came out and joined them on the catwalk and while Cristina drooled all over Tom Evens Meredith found herself distracted by Derek. He was looking at her rather intently. Could he tell she was wearing elastic pants? Who was she kidding? He saw her naked more often than she even saw herself naked. If she was getting fat he would know. But still, everyone was acting very weird; even Cristina to an extent. Meredith decided to ask Derek what was going on the next time they were alone.

She meant to ask him, but almost as soon as Cristina and Evens were gone Derek was paged. And somehow before she knew what was happening, she was standing with Jackson and April while April gushed over Derek in a way that was almost amusingly reminiscent of the way Cristina had gushed over Evens. Or it would have been amusing if she hadn't been talking about Derek. As it was Meredith found herself bouncing between wanting to kick her stupid ass and wondering if April Kepner ever had to wear elastic pants.

After she got away from April and Jackson she was walking down the hall when she spotted Mark in a small room by the nursery. He was smiling and holding a baby and she went in for a closer look. He heard her approaching and looked up and smiled at her. "Hey, Big Grey! This is my grandson." Mark pointed the baby towards her so she could get a better look. He really was very cute.

Normally she wasn't a huge fan of babies but as she was looking at the little baby in Marks arms she melted. The Sloans were an attractive people. She'd give them that at least. "Does he have a name yet?" she asked as her hand reached out to touch his little cheek, almost without her realizing it.

"Nope, no name yet." Then he stood up and started handing her the baby, "Here, you should hold him. He's really pretty great. And it will be good practice."

Whoa, he was handing here the baby. Who did he think she was? Some kind of baby holding person who holds babies? She didn't even know where to begin but before she could protest the baby was in her arms. He was more solid than she would have expected. He felt strong and not breakable and the way he looked at her, like he trusted her completely, didn't scare her at all. Maybe this wasn't something to be afraid of.

Once she had him she didn't really know what to do, but he didn't seem to mind. She reached out with her free hand and touched his little stomach. She couldn't help the small bewildered smile that flitted across her face as he reached out and grabbed one of her fingers. Who knew that babies actually did that in real life? She was a bit embarrassed to admit it (even if it was just to herself) but the whole thing was kind of amazing.

He gave a little yawn and her heart just melted. She hadn't really ever been around a baby in a non-clinical way before. It really was kind of nice. She ran her fingers over his wispy baby hair and couldn't help but imagine a little baby with Derek's dark hair and blue eyes. It seemed to awake a kind of longing in her that she hadn't really known before. She wanted one. They were still terrifying and completely life changing but maybe she could handle it? Being with Derek had slowly changed her plans from "No kids ever" to "Maybe someday" and now she felt herself falling over the ledge into "Babies soonish". Not right away but when she looked at Little Sloan's baby she got a definite sense of "I want one" that she had never actually felt before.

Mark was telling her some of the medical facts about the baby, all unremarkable, when he dosed off in her arms. His little eyes just drifted shut and he was out. Just as she thought she could stay like that all day her pager went off. She cringed but the baby didn't wake up. A sound sleeper, she liked that in a man. She smiled slightly to herself when she thought of Derek and the ear plugs that he'd had to wear when they were first dating.

She carefully handed the baby back to Mark before checking her pager. "Oh! Trauma choppers. Yes!" She cheered quietly as she headed out the door. "Thanks Mark. He's great! He looks just like you!" She added as an afterthought as she headed out the door.

She was still on a cutesy baby high when she got into the elevator with Derek, April and Jackson but her mood quickly went south after she watched April fawning all over Derek again. Meredith couldn't believe it. This stupid little intern thought she was going to come in here and hit on _her_ McDreamy. This little girl had nothing on her and Derek. They were Meredith and Derek, they'd gone through hell together and now this twelve year old thought she was going to come in and ruin their happily ever after? No. Freaking. Way.

Logically Meredith knew she had nothing to worry about. She knew that her marriage to Derek was nothing like his marriage to Addison. They would never cheat on each other. They would never degrade into the hateful married couple that had given Meredith a front row seat to the end of their marriage. He was Derek. He was her soulmate dammit. But when she watched April Kepner follow him around like a stupid love-struck intern she couldn't help all of the insecurities that popped up. It was like she could feel every wrinkle on her face. Of course Derek would never even think about cheating on her, but what if she was still somehow sowing the seeds of Derek's discontent? What if he saw this young cheerful little girl following him around like he walked on water and then looked at Meredith and saw her elastic pants and generally gloomy disposition and just wanted someone a little nicer?

Aside from a few eye rolls aimed at Jackson, Meredith managed to keep herself in check for most of the day. At lunch, however, she mentioned it to her friends who didn't really do anything to make her feel better. Alex had given her the only piece of advice that she could actually use. "Powerful guys like adorning girls." That's what he told her, and it made sense. She just had to step up her game.

It was with that in mind that she was standing very unglamorously in the locker room with no pants on and one foot in the sink shaving her legs. Lexie walked in and laughed a little at the sight. Then she sat down on the counter next to the sink and sighed. "I think maybe I just broke up with Alex," she said without preamble.

"What happened?" Meredith asked kindly, even though she wasn't really sure she felt sorry for Lexie anyway. She'd told her not to date Alex in the first place.

Lexie just looked down at her hands while she talked. "Well he's been treating me like crap all day and then I had a really cool diagnosis for our patient but he wouldn't listen so I had to go tell Dr. Altman and make him look like an idiot in front of everyone. You should have seen the look he gave me. I'm pretty sure that's it for us."

"Well Lexie, not that I'm not like one hundred percent against the whole you and Alex thing but I can give you some advice if you want. But it's not free. I need help too." Meredith told her sister as she dried off her first leg and lowered it to the ground before picking up her other leg and putting it into the sink.

"Yeah, okay. What do you think I should do about Alex?" Lexie asked somewhat eagerly.

Meredith looked her Lexie in the eye before she began, "You need to man up Lexie. Alex is a good guy when he wants to be but with you for some reason he is being a complete ass. You can't wait around for him to decide to respect you. You have to demand it. You are a nice person Lexie, and you're nice to him. He's had a hard life and a lot of crappy things have happened to him but you can't just let him walk all over you. That's all really. Just be assertive. Oh and be honest, Alex appreciates honesty."

"Okay so, be assertive and honest and demand respect. I can do that." Lexie held her hands in front of her like she was trying to pump herself up for a fight or something. "So what do you need from me?" She asked, remembering the other half of their deal.

"I need you to help me figure out what the heck is going on with everyone around here. Everyone keeps smiling and being courteous and the guys keep lifting things for me. And the coffee. They all keep bringing me coffee and I have no idea what the malfunction is but you seem to be the only one who is acting normal. So I need you to help me figure it out. Because it's like attack of the body snatchers out there or something." Meredith looked at Lexie with wide eyes.

"Oh I have noticed that they all seem to be acting a little crazy around you. You don't have any idea why?" Lexie seemed as perplexed as her sister.

"No and it's really starting to freak me out. " Meredith said as she finished shaving her second leg and went to pull her pants back up. Cringing as the elastic band reminded her of her other problems. "Do you maybe want to go out for a drink with me later? I have to go sexually embarrass myself in front of my husband but then he's got a few more hours of work to finish up before he'll be ready to go home and I could really use a friendly non-pod-person face."

"Yeah sure, you go be gross with Derek, and I can maybe just do some reconnaissance around here for your thing and then we can go to Joe's and you can help get me drunk enough to yell at Alex." Lexie smiled at Meredith.

"It really is nice to have you around Lexie. I like having a sister." Meredith didn't know where it was coming from but she just kept feeling a sentimental pull toward her sister. Well, kind of towards everyone but Lexie was the only one who wasn't acting crazy.

As she walked alone to the conference room that she knew Derek was holed up in she couldn't help the flitter of doubts that pushed through her. At lunch Alex's advice had seemed like water in the desert. Call him Chief Shepherd. Seemed simple enough. Even though the feminist in her found the whole idea abhorrent and laughable and vaguely grotesque; the neurotic wife in her just hoped to god he would like it. She'd shaved her legs for him and was now on her way to seduce him in the conference room. He better appreciate her efforts.

Turns out he really did appreciate it. The twinkle in his eyes when he was figuring out what she was up to was enough to give her the confidence she needed to keep going and they had ended up having a lot of fun. Of course that just meant his night was going to be even later. Completely worth it, he'd told her. And the smile and kiss he'd given her as she left him to finish his work had told her she really had made his day. She was glad to help make his lousy day a bit better, even if he was just a pod-person version of Derek.

She looked all over for Lexie but couldn't find her anywhere. Eventually she just went home and that's where she found Lexie and Alex sitting in the kitchen. "Hey Lexie, did you forget we were supposed to go to Joe's?" Meredith asked as she sat down and reached for one of the beers in the six-pack on the table.

Alex snatched the beers away before she could get one. "Uh, these are mine," he said with something less than total conviction. "I gotta go," he added as he hastily left the room with the beers, like he was afraid of what Meredith was going to do to him when she wrapped her brain around what had just happened.

"Seriously?" she yelled after him, "What the hell Alex?" then she turned to Lexie, "Do you see what I'm talking about? Everyone is acting completely crazy!" Then she flopped back in her chair and looked at her sister, "So what happened? We were supposed to go to Joe's remember?"

"Oh, um yeah, I forgot. But that's okay you don't need to be drinking anyway. Um. None of us do, I mean. We all drink too much." Lexie started to take a swig of her beer but then seemed to think better of it and got up and dumped it into the sink. "Let's just have some ice cream instead. I think there's some mint chip in there." She tried to smile but couldn't manage to look anything but kind of nervous.

Meredith's eyes narrowed, "Oh. My. God. They got to you too!" she waved her hands in Lexie's direction in a somewhat frantic manor. "You were my last hope, but now you're just pod-Lexie!" Meredith couldn't believe it. What was happening to everyone? What wasn't she getting? "What's going on? Because this is just getting ridiculous!"

"What? No. Everything's totally fine Mere I swear. You're just imagining things. Everyone's just being nice because they love you." She was trying to sound convincing and Meredith was so thrown by everything she started to wonder if she was just being crazy. Maybe she just needed to stop reading so much into everything. No one had done anything that was really that weird. Really.

Meredith was almost convinced. "Okay, well I actually think I'd just like to go lay down. It's been a long day and I'm pretty tired," She spoke slowly and cautiously and didn't take her eyes off Lexie while she said it. Then she got up and walked around her sister into the laundry room to get her and Derek's clean clothes out of the dryer.

"Hey, what are you doing there?" Lexie asked as Meredith started to make her way back through the kitchen with the heaping laundry basket. Then she said the worst possible thing she could have, "Here, why don't you let me carry that for you?" She reached out to take the basket from Meredith.

That was it. Meredith knew there was no way she was imagining _that_. "Okay, seriously? Why the hell would you carry my laundry for me Lexie?" she looked at her sister with a look that told Lexie to run away while she still could.

"Um, I just wanted to be nice. You know because," Lexie paused here for just a moment too long, "because I feel bad for blowing you off for drinks tonight, especially after you gave me such good advice about Alex." Lexie half cringed, half smiled as she looked her sister in the eyes.

Meredith didn't know what the hell was going on. She didn't know if she really was just being crazy or not. She just knew she was not going to deal with it at that moment. She was tired and in a weird mood and just wanted to go to sleep. She looked at Lexie through narrowed eyes before saying, "Whatever, I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow Lexie." She turned around still carrying her laundry basket and left to go upstairs. She meant to fold laundry and wait for Derek to get home before she went to sleep, but instead she fell asleep on the pile of clothes that she had just folded. She was very exhausted and just couldn't keep her eyes open for one more second.

**TBC**


	6. Foundations

**A/N: Okay so this chapter is actually sort of a little break. It is just some merder fluff cuz I really heart them so much and they haven't been cute and together in this fic as much as I planned. It's with the story and has a bit of plot progression but really I wrote it to fit exactly between the last chapter and the next one which I already wrote so it's not entirely like plot intensive. I Hope you like it.**** : )**

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**Baby Daddy Chapter 6**

When Derek finally got home from work the house was dark and quiet. He knew it was silly since he had just seen her a few hours ago but he was really disappointed that he didn't get to go to sleep with Meredith. He loved just lying in bed with her as they both fell asleep. Really, that was just one of the many many things he loved about being married to Meredith.

Hope fluttered into him as he saw light peeking out of the bottom of their bedroom door. When he opened the door a smile pulled across his face. Meredith lay on the bed sprawled over what looked like it had once been folded laundry with one arm over her eyes while she snored softly. He could certainly add unwitting adorableness to the list of things he loved about his wife. Not that he'd ever dare say that to her face of course.

He shook his head and walked over to the bed. He started picking up the laundry and folding it as he set it back in the basket. He was pretty much done when she started to stir. "Derek?" She mumbled while squeezing her eyes shut to keep out the light.

He smiled and reached down to run his fingers through her hair while he kissed her cheek. "Shh, go back to sleep Mere. I'm just getting this laundry picked up and then I'll sleep too." He couldn't help it. He was glad to get to talk to her, even just a little. It had been such a long day and she was the only bright spot in it.

As he whispered to her she reached up and hugged him; bringing him down next to her and burying her face in his neck to block out the light. He knew he should get up and finish getting ready for bed but he was just so exhausted and right there in her arms was exactly where he wanted to be. So he snuggled further into the bed, pulled her close and just laid there with his wife; completely comfortable, really for the first time since he left her that morning. _Just one minute_, he told himself as he cuddled into her. Before he knew it he was asleep too. The two of them in each other's arms on top of the covers with the lights still on.

The next thing Derek was really aware of was cold. He shivered as he realized he was alone in the bed. No more Meredith in his arms. He was only confused for a second though because then he heard the sounds of her retching in their bathroom. He couldn't help the pang of guilt he felt as he ran into the bathroom to see if she needed anything. She'd been so tired all week and now she was up before the sun puking her guts out. It was at least half his fault and she was paying the entire price for it. It hardly seemed fair.

"Hey are you okay?" He asked as he reached her, trying his best to be soothing. He reached out with one hand and scooped up her hair which she had been messily holding away from her face and with his other hand he started rubbing her back.

"Oh Derek, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up," She practically groaned as she curled up against him; keeping her face pointed towards the toilet just in case. "You don't even have to work today. You should be sleeping in." She said the words but he could tell by the way she buried herself in his arms that she was glad to have him there.

"I would never want to be sleeping through you being sick." He said as he continued to rub her back and feathered a kiss on the side of her head. It was true too. He hated the idea of her being alone when she might be wanting him. "Are you okay though? Are you having any problems other than the vomiting?" His concerned doctor mode kicked in as she looked like she was about to start heaving again.

She just groaned and vomited some more. When she was done she laid back against him and said, "I don't know, maybe. It's mostly just the puking but I guess I'm kinda achy and my head hurts and maybe I have a slight fever. Most of that probably just has to do with waking up puking after too little sleep though."

All in all nothing she said seemed out of place for the first trimester of pregnancy so he wasn't really that worried. He just wished she could get a few more hours of sleep but it was almost time for her to get up for work anyway at this point. He perked up a little as an idea came to him. "You know," he turned to face her a little more as he spoke, "You should probably just call in today." He fought off a small smirk as. He knew that if she knew she was pregnant she would most likely be determined to go to work no matter how she felt but maybe this avoidance thing could really work for him. Maybe it could even get him a whole day off with his wife. "I mean really, you don't want to spread the flu in a hospital. All of those post-op patients and everything. In fact," now he was smiling just a bit, "As your boss I'm telling you that you are in no condition to work today."

She looked ready to argue but then, as if on cue, she threw up instead. "Okay, maybe you're right," She said as she fell back into his arms. "I wouldn't want to hurl on one of the patients or something. Or worse, an attending."

He chuckled a little as he rocked her back and forth slowly, "Okay well just don't worry about anything. I'll call and take care of it for you. Nobody will question me if I say you're sick. Then we can both get a couple more hours of sleep and see how you feel then."

"Yeah okay," She said, and then they just laid there in silence for a few minutes until he noticed her starting to dose off again.

"Hey Mere, are you feeling better enough to head to bed?" He asked as he nudged her gently.

He wasn't quite sure what she said back but it sounded something like, "Hmm bed, so far away." Which he took to mean she was feeling better but too exhausted to walk the twenty or so feet back to bed.

"Alright, I think I can take care of that," He said as he stood up with her still in his arms and headed for bed.

Carrying her around was not something she normally let him do (unless it was in some way directly related to sex) but ever since she had given Thatcher her liver she had been more excepting of the idea, especially when she didn't feel well. She had been on restricted movement for quite some time while they waited for her liver to regenerate itself and a lot of her ability to get places that she wanted to be depended on him carrying her there. "Besides," She'd told him at the time, "You're just Derek. What do I have to be embarrassed about in front of you?" She had pretty much just been joking but it made him happy nonetheless.

He set her down so that she was sitting up just a bit in the bed and then ran back to the bathroom. He came back with the bottle of mouthwash. He handed her the bottle and said, "Swish," then picked up an empty cup from her nightstand and said, "Spit," while she did as directed.

As he walked back to the bathroom to return the mouthwash to its place by the sink she called after him, "Derek, I'm fine. You don't need to carry me around and bring me mouthwash in bed. It's just the flu or something." Derek smiled to himself. If she was scolding him for hovering then she must already be starting to feel better.

He came back into the bedroom and started heading to the hallway. "Okay, I promise I'll stop right after I get you something to drink because you just vomited quite a bit and dehydration will only make you feel worse."

She seemed to weigh her options for a couple seconds before nodding her head, "Okay, but you better come finish sleeping too when you're done because I know you have not gotten enough sleep either." She leaned back against her pillows and sighed as he walked out of the room.

As he was heading down to the kitchen he shook his head at himself. It was a good thing she didn't know what had gotten into him because he was pretty sure that he was acting way too hovery. It was stupid and cliché and cheesy of him but he couldn't help it. His wife was having his baby. His wife he loved more than anything had their child inside of her. The huge smile that covered his face at the thought made it clear to him that he was definitely going to need to get this out of his system before she figured him out.

After he called the hospital for her and brought her some water and some Tylenol they both went back to sleep and it was a couple hours before Derek woke up again. This time it was too a knocking at their bedroom door. He was just getting up the ambition to respond when the door creaked open and Alex and Lexie stood on the other side of the threshold looking just about ready to go to work. "Hey," Lexie started speaking quietly to Derek, noticing that he was the only one awake in the room, "Isn't she coming in to work today?" She gestured toward Meredith who was snoring softly next to him.

"Oh, right, actually she wasn't feeling well and decided to call in," Derek saw the concerned looks on their faces and quickly clarified, "She was throwing up this morning. She thinks she might be coming down with the flu." He was slightly smirking at this as he explained it to her friends.

"Oh, so no Mere at work all day then?" Derek almost laughed at the relief clearly plastered on Alex's face. Watching out for her had definitely been taking its toll on him.

"Nope, she's staying home." Derek responded as he sunk back down into the bed and started cuddling against Meredith again.

"Um, alright. See you later then," Lexie said as the two of them made a hasty retreat. Derek just laid there staring at Meredith's sleeping form until he fell back to sleep again himself.

It was much later in the morning when they both finally woke up for real. The sun was streaming in through the curtains and they were both just lounging in bed. Derek was watching Meredith as she seemed to be deciding whether or not to open her eyes when she finally peaked them open and asked, "Do we have anything that we need to do today?"

"Well, I have one errand that I need to run but you can just stay home and get some rest if you're still not feeling well." He responded to her question as he reached out to touch her face.

She thought for a second before saying, "I actually feel much better I just must have needed some more sleep I guess," then they mostly just got lost in cuddling for a few minutes before she asked, "What kind of errand?" As questioned him she rolled into him and kissed him on the mouth while running her fingers through his hair.

"Well all I have to do," he started to detail his plans for the day between kisses, "is to go out to talk to the contractor for the new house." he pushed her back and rolled on top of her, careful not to crush her under his weight, "Then we don't have anything else. We could spend the rest of the day in bed if we wanted." He smiled and pulled her legs around him.

"Oh so we definitely better get that done quickly." She responded to him in a flirty tone that made him wonder if she was actually listening or not, but also made him not really care one way or the other. After that the conversation pretty much ended.

It was almost noon by the time they got out of bed, showered, ate breakfast and finally made their way out the door. It was a gorgeous spring day and as they took the ferry out to Derek's land, they sat on the deck to feel the warm breeze coming off the bay. "God there's nothing like a long cold winter to make you love the Spring." Meredith sighed as she leaned into Derek. Derek was glad to notice that she didn't seem as twitchy as she had been the day before.

The relaxed mood continued to stay with them as Derek drove them through the rough uncut terrain of his land. He was surprised to see how much the area had changed since he saw it last. There was now a clearly visible dirt path leading up to where the house would be and even more interesting was the enormous hole that would one day be their basement. Seeing the dirt and destruction that was everywhere on his once pristine property almost made Derek feel a bit guilty. This had been perfect and basically untouched by man and now it was a total mess. He almost felt guilty, but not quite. He and Meredith were going to raise their family on this land. They were going to grow old together right on this spot. Something about that just made it magical.

"Oh wow I guess my house of candles was a bit on the small side," Meredith joked as she took in the sight before her. Her eyes were big and she craned her neck to get a better view. Derek was glad to see her interest in the house, he sometimes worried that his desire to move out to his land was not something she shared with him. She seemed perfectly content at her frat house in town and to tell the truth he was pretty happy there too. He certainly wanted more privacy and loved the idea of living on his land but he didn't want to force her into something she was unhappy with. He was in love with a woman who liked to be surrounded by a lot of people all of the time; it wasn't something he really had a problem with anymore. It wasn't his favorite part of their life together but he had already proved to himself that he could live with it.

They pulled up to where there was a trailer that looked like it was set up to be an office and they climbed out of the car. Before they made it all the way to the building the man Derek was there to see stepped out to meet them. "Hello, Dr. Shepherd! Thanks so much for coming. I just have a little bit of paperwork for you to sign for me. It should only take a few minutes and then if you like I can give you a tour of what we've got done so far." He was a very pleasant man with a muscular build and a good head for business. Derek had become quite fond of the contractor while they were in the planning stages of the house.

"Mr. Jones this is my wife, Meredith. Mere, this is our contractor Craig Jones," Derek introduced them and they shook hands.

"Mrs. Shepherd it's really good to meet you! Your husband has nothing but wonderful things to say about you." Derek couldn't help the smile that came to his face when Mr. Jones called Meredith Mrs. Shepherd. He almost laughed outright at Meredith's raised eyebrows, but she didn't correct him; she just let it slide. He hated to admit it, but he was a little pleased by that.

Derek signed the papers and then the three of them went on a walk around the property. It was mostly just a foundation and some stacks of wood and brick that would one day be their home. Derek felt his excitement bubbling up at the sight of it all. He watched Meredith as she took it all in. She had a look that he couldn't quite identify as she kept her eyes on the house. As the contractor left them to look on their own at the end of the tour. Derek turned to Meredith and pulled her into a light embrace. "What are you thinking about in there?" He asked as she put her arms around his waist and rested her face against his chest.

Without taking her eyes off the house she just smiled slightly and said, "We have a foundation."

Derek laughed at her simple statement and said, "Yes, that we do." He pulled her closer and buried his nose in her hair, it still smelled like lavender from her shower.

"We have a foundation," Meredith repeated before adding, "and all of the materials we need to build our house."

"Well we _are_ still waiting for the marble for the kitchen floor," Derek interrupted with a smirk.

Meredith laughed a short laugh before picking up where she left off, "It's just that we're really here. This is it. I feel like we've arrived or something. Our very own grown up non-frat house in the woods."

"Is that a bad thing?" Derek couldn't help the old insecurities creeping up on him.

"No it's perfect. It's everything. We have a foundation Derek. We have a foundation and soon there will be walls and a roof and then it will be unbreakable. We really are in the happily ever after part." She stayed in his arms and he smiled and hugged her closer.

He wasn't sure if it was a good idea but he felt the need to add, "And maybe someday we'll have some kids running around in the yard."

She sighed and for a second he wasn't sure if it was a good sigh or a bad sigh but then she said, "Yeah, kids." He lit up. It was amazing how those two words _yeah, kids _could mean so much coming from her. Then she continued, "I've actually been thinking about that a bit. I know you brought it up last week so it's not entirely out of the blue that I've been thinking about it but I just thought you should know that I'm thinking maybe soonish. Not right this second but you know, soonish." She looked up at his face and he saw a slightly insecure smile on her face.

"Oh Mere. Soonish is great." He smiled and kissed her hard and momentarily forgot where they were until he heard cat calls coming from some of the nearby construction workers. He pulled back a little smiled and said happily, "We have a foundation." With that they made their way back to the car and drove back to catch the ferry.

**TBC**

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**Okay that's all I've got for now. I hope that they didn't seem too gooey. It's been a while since I slept and I'm sort of in a lovey dovey mood I guess. Let me know how you liked it. : )**


	7. Dr Mostow, I Presume?

**A/N: Hey guys here's chapter 7. So this chapter is a little different because it takes place during the season 6 episode "How Insensitive" and all of the regular characters that I would normally use were wrapped up in their own angsty and depressing plot lines. So most of this chapter is told from the point of view of Steve Mostow otherwise known as Two. He's Cristina's former intern from all the way back in season four. He just sort of pops up when they feel like using him so I figured I would just do the same thing and let him pop up in my story at random. Also, his best friend Graziella pops up quite a bit in this chapter. She is one of Izzie's former interns. The chapter is by no means _about_ them but they are there quite a bit and I just wanted to remind you guys who they were in case you didn't remember. The first Grey's Anatomy Webisode series was all about them and also Steve used to have a blog at ABC dot com and so if you hear some facts about them that you don't remember from the show that's probably where they came from. I hope you like it.**

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**Baby Daddy Chapter 7**

Lexie was walking into the hospital with Alex when they ran into Cristina. "Heads up, we're doing some kind of lame sensitivity training thing with Bailey today," She said as she walked past them into the locker room.

"Oh man so we have to spend the day learning how to get in touch with our sensitive side. That touchy feely crap is gonna make me puke." Alex said in his best I'm-an-insensitive-ass voice.

Lexie just laughed and said, "Hmm, I wonder why they think they might have to teach you to be more sensitive."

Alex just shrugged so Lexie took the opportunity to ask something that had been on her mind since the other day when they told her Meredith was pregnant, "So I've been thinking about Meredith being pregnant and going over it and over it and I just can't figure out how Derek did it."

Alex and Cristina both just looked at her before Cristina said, "Um I would think given all your extensive medical knowledge you would know where babies come from Lexipedia."

Lexie's eyes went really wide as she realized what she had said, "What? No. Yeah. I… um… know that! Yeah. I meant how did Derek manage to test her without her realizing?"

"What do you mean?" Alex said with furrowed brows.

"I mean I know they're close but I kind of hope they're not _that_ close" Lexie said with a cringe.

"Oh? How close it _that_?" Cristina inquired with a teasing tone.

"Um, I don't know," now Lexie was really starting to embarrass herself, "As close as they'd have to be for her to not notice she was taking a pregnancy test."

"What? He didn't test her." Alex said with a disgusted look on his face.

At the same time Cristina interjected with a very pointed, "Eww."

"Oh," Lexie started, "I just assumed he had done a pregnancy test. How does he know she's pregnant then?" She asked curiously.

"Oh well Shepherd said she was showing the symptoms or something." Cristina responded before adding, "Alex?" and gesturing that he should give the full explanation.

"Yeah, he said she was showing symptoms and, I don't know, that he just knew." Alex had a look on his face like he was suddenly realizing that his information on the subject really was less than satisfactory.

"Oh, so you've been chasing her around for all this time when all you have to go on is Derek's hunch?" Lexie paused for a moment. "Wow. That's pretty sweet of you guys."

Alex and Cristina just stared at each other and Lexie thought she could practically see the wheels turning in their heads. "Hmm, what are we gonna do?" Cristina started, "because no way in hell am I going to keep following her around with a butterfly net if she's not even spawning a McBaby in there."

"Yeah but Lexie's got a point. How are we gonna test her without her noticing?" Alex looked skeptically at Cristina.

"Yeah that could be a problem." Cristina paused in thought for a moment before eventually coming to a conclusion, "Well first off we need a patsy."

"A patsy?" asked Lexie.

"Yeah, you know a flunky. Someone to go in and do the work for us and take the blame if it goes wrong" Cristina continued, "Because if any of us try and she catches us we will be sunk. She'd probably end up figuring out that she's knocked up and totally freak and then McDreamy would blame us."

"How could we ever get anyone to agree to do a pregnancy test on Meredith without her knowing?" Lexie asked, a little grossed out by the thought.

"You're probably right. What we really need is her blood. It's more invasive but much less creepy and more accurate. Now we just need someone dumb enough to try and steel her blood. That could be the hard part." Cristina was in full scale planning mode now which instinctively put Lexie on edge.

"Oh yeah _that's_ the hard part? Because the rest of it is what? A cakewalk?" Lexie asked incredulously. Just then the door to the locker room opened and in walked Lexie's old friend, Steve Mostow from back in the days of when they were both Cristina's interns.

Steve was not having a good year. Over half of his intern class had been cut from the program, his wife had had another man's baby and to top it all off everyone in the hospital still thought his name was Two. It was the start of another bad day in a long series of bad days and he could tell it was about to get worse.

He saw Yang, Karev and Lexie huddled together talking when he got into the locker room and they looked entirely too pleased to see him. It was never a good sign when Dr. Yang was glad to see you.

"Two!" She called out to him.

"Yes, Dr. Yang?" He was still terrified of her, he couldn't help it. She hadn't been his direct superior in almost two years but he still hadn't developed the ability to stand up to her.

She walked over to him and put her arm over his shoulders in a way that he knew spelled his doom. "You know Two, you're just the person I wanted to see." Steve could see Karev laughing while Lexie just looked at him apologetically. "You see Two, I have a very special project just for you." She paused for effect. "I need you to get a blood sample from Dr. Grey without her noticing." Steve looked quizzically at Lexie, "No not that Dr. Grey you moron. _Meredith_ Grey. If I wanted Lexipedia's blood I'd just take it." Lexie looked offended but Yang shot her a look and Lexie gave a reluctant shrug.

That's when Steve's brain really caught up to the situation, "Wait you want me to get her _blood_ without her noticing? There's no way…"

"Oh you'll get it." She paused, "You'll get it or…"

"Or what?" He interrupted her with a sudden flash of defiance. The look in her eyes told him that was definitely a mistake. Oh god.

"Or what? Or _what_?" She paused and he just knew she was going kill him. "You'll get me that blood. You'll get it for me and keep Meredith from finding out or... or Else!" She was so terrifying when she spoke that Steve found himself backing away involuntarily. He accidentally backed into the bench and fell down as they all watched. Dr. Yang's face lit up with glee and she practically cackled with delight.

"Yeah okay. Yes ma'am. I'll do it." Steve stammered as he tripped over himself to get out of the room.

"And Two?" She called after him, "I better not hear about you telling anyone about this. This is our little secret." He felt a great sense of relief when he finally made it out to the hallway. He knew he made himself too easy of a target and that she wouldn't pick on him half so much if he would just stand up for himself even one time, but he just couldn't do it. The woman had haunted his nightmares since his first day as an intern.

Steve was sitting in the skills lab with the rest of the residents waiting for Dr. Bailey to begin the lecture. He was trying to figure out how he was going to get Dr. Grey's blood without her noticing. She was just sitting there talking to her friends and waiting. Why couldn't one of them do it? He asked himself. They were closer. He thought with a somewhat childish frustration. God he was in so much trouble.

"Dude, why are you glaring at Dr. Grey? What did she ever do to you?" Graziella sat down next to him and started ripping into her bar of chocolate.

Steve just groaned and dropped his head down on the table, "Yang wants me to steel her blood."

"Wow, I always kind of thought Dr. Yang might be a vampire but you'd think in a hospital there would be easier ways to get a little blood." Steve could never quite tell when his best friend was joking.

He just groaned before saying, "You are really not helping. I don't know why she wants it I just know that if I don't get it for her she'll probably take my head as a substitute." Steve wanted to know if Graziella had any ideas but before he could ask Dr. Bailey walked in and the lecture began.

Steve sat quietly listening to Dr. Bailey explain the finer points of patient sensitivity while the third year residents all heckled her from the front of the room. He watched Dr. Grey with her friends and she looked pretty much normal. She was smiling and laughing with her friends. He couldn't understand why they secretly wanted her blood.

He spaced out for so long that he almost didn't notice when everyone started filing out of the room to meet the mystery patient. He was as surprised as anyone when an industrial sized truck pulled in behind the ambulance and even more so when the back of the truck was opened to reveal the morbidly obese man on a bed. Steve always preferred neuro to all other surgical specialties but still this case looked like a once in a lifetime opportunity and he was really excited to take part. Plus, he knew Dr. Grey wouldn't get kicked off the case like Dr. Avery did for almost immediately breaking the rules of patient sensitivity. She was always sensitive and courteous. Well, to patients anyway. Interns were a completely different story.

He did his best to stay out of the way as they brought the patient in to examine him. He decided the best strategy was to just stand aside and let everyone else get kicked off the case and then he could swoop in and work with Dr. Grey all day. He was doing just that when Graziella came up to stand beside him. "Hey, don't you want to get in there?" she asked him while the team examined some kind of infection on the patient's stomach.

"Not yet. I'm waiting until a few more people get taken off the case first." He answered while still watching in fascination.

"Well you better not wait too long. You won't stand a chance if it's just the two of you. That guy is like nine of you Steve." She laughed a little under her breath.

"Mostow, Guzman, you're off the case." Bailey's voice floated from over Graziella's shoulder. How was that woman everywhere all the time? It was like she had magical powers or something.

"But Dr. Bailey, I didn't…" Steve started to argue but she just held her hand in front of his face made a noise that was decidedly telling him to 'zip it' and walked away. He stared after her before turning to Graziella with a put-upon expression. "Thanks a lot Graziella. Now how am I supposed to keep track of Dr. Grey?"

She just shook her head apologetically and said, "Sorry Steve, at least this way you can hide from Yang without having to worry about a case." She paused for a minute before adding, "I, on the other hand, don't have a price on my head. So I'm off to find a case." With that she turned on her heel and left. Steve was stunned. Some friend she was. First she got him kicked off the case and then she abandoned him? Seriously? He was not having a good day.

After some thought, Steve decided his best bet would be to follow Dr. Grey around at a distance and wait for his opening. He didn't have any idea what that opening would be but hopefully he would know it when he saw it. As he followed her around a few things started to stick out in his mind. People were acting pretty weird around her. Karev kept being nice to her and making her smile. Yang brought her a milkshake. Lexie jumped in front of her when she almost got hit by a speeding gurney causing Lexie to get completely nailed instead. And everyone kept bringing her coffee. It was really odd. Were people always this nice to her? Steve couldn't help but think that no one would ever get hit by a gurney to save him. Some people had all of the luck.

He decided that he better get the kit to draw her blood just to be prepared and after that he caught up to her in the cafeteria. She was eating lunch with her friends and looking vaguely horrified at something Dr. Yang was doing with a french fry and a hamburger. He thought maybe he could just sneak up behind her and do it quickly and get away before she knew what hit her. It wasn't a great plan, but she was pretty distracted and it was the best he could come up with on short notice. He stood behind her trying to gather his courage with his hand gripping the syringe in his pocket when the patient's wife pushed past him and started yelling at the residents at their lunch table. With the moment broken Steve made a hasty retreat.

He was really starting to get desperate. The day was almost over and he still hadn't gotten the blood. This was not good at all. He was watching while Dr. Grey updated some charts at the nurses' station and as panic started to overtake him. He studied her and decided that he might be able to just sneak up behind her and get it now. It was a really bad stupid idea but he needed that damn blood.

He was creeping up behind her with the syringe held up in the air when Karev spotted him. He did a double take and then got a really disgusted look on his face. He shook his head and gestured with his hand cutting across his throat and Steve knew better than to keep going. It was a really freaking bad idea anyway.

He put the syringe back in his pocket and was wallowing in self-hatred and he wandered away from Dr. Grey. Suddenly he heard Dr. Bailey's voice cut across the hallway in his direction, "What in the hell do you think you are doing?" She shouted. Had she seen his almost attempted stabbing of Dr. Grey? Oh, he was in for it if she had. That really wasn't one of his finer moments.

"N-nothing Dr. Bailey?" He wasn't sure why that came out as a question. He was in so much trouble.

"Don't think I haven't seen you slinking around all day. You're kicked off the case Dr. Mostow. Deal with it. Do you think this hospital is paying you to sit around and pout?" She got in his face as only Dr. Bailey could.

"Uh, no ma'am," he tried to look ashamed while he really just felt relieved. He could honestly say he had never been this glad while being yelled at by Dr. Bailey before.

"Alright then. Go and find something to do before I find you something. Because you won't like what I come up with," she seemed a little put off that he had agreed so quickly but didn't let it break her stride.

"Yes ma'am," was all Steve responded before scurrying off in the other direction. That had been much too close.

This did present a problem though. How was he ever going to get Dr. Grey's blood if he couldn't even follow her around anymore? He decided he just needed to get out of the situation for a little bit and went and got some coffee from the coffee cart. He sat down on the nearest bench and just sat there drinking his coffee while basking in his own ineptitude.

He wasn't even sure how long he had been sitting there when Dr. Karev walked up to the cart and ordered a decaffeinated mocha latté. That seemed like a pretty funny drink for Karev but Steve didn't really think he was in a position to judge anyone else for anything at that moment. Just as Karev was walking back the way he came from Yang flew out of nowhere grabbed his arm and dragged him around the corner. They couldn't see him but Steve could still hear everything they were saying. "Mere's still on the fatty case?" Yang asked bluntly.

"Yeah, why?" was all Karev said in response.

"She can't be in that surgery Alex," She started and when Karev stayed silent she continued, "It will be hours and hours of pulling back hundreds of pounds of fat so they can have a clear operating field. She could barely do that under normal circumstances; no way is it a good idea now." Steve's ears perked up. What were they talking about? Was there something wrong with Dr. Grey? The curiosity that had been simmering inside of him all day was starting to boil over.

"Well, I guess we could just tell Shepherd and make him deal with it. This whole thing is his mess anyway." Karev offered.

"No. Bad idea. He's got too much on his plate already between fatty and the deposition thing he's working on," Yang countered and Steve wished they would just say what they were talking about.

"Then what do you suggest? Because there's no way I can kick her out of surgery." Karev asked.

"Yeah, you're right. You're completely powerless here," Dr. Yang said and then paused briefly. "I'll just have to tell Owen. Yeah. I'll tell him everything and he can keep her from scrubbing in." She paused for a beat before adding, "Don't give me that look. Owen will keep his mouth shut and it's the best we can do on short notice."

"Yeah okay but do it fast," was Karev's response and then they both took off in opposite directions. Steve groaned; he couldn't believe that they had managed to have that whole conversation without actually saying what was wrong with Dr. Grey.

He sat on the bench for a couple more minutes before slowly making his way to the OR gallery to watch the surgery. He figured that even if they did get her kicked off the surgery Dr. Grey would still come up and watch from the gallery and really, even if she didn't come up to the gallery, Steve's spirit was broken. He wasn't really sure if he cared anymore.

When Steve found a seat near the back he saw Dr. Grey was already scrubbed in and preparing for the surgery to begin. Apparently Dr. Yang's influence didn't reach quite as far as she thought. Then Dr. Hunt came in and started giving orders and Steve couldn't believe his eyes. Hunt kicked Grey out of the surgery. Steve really had to stop underestimating Dr. Yang. That thought brought a new sense of dread. He had failed her and she was really mean when she was disappointed. She was really mean all the time for that matter.

Steve just sat watching the surgery but Dr. Grey never came to watch from the gallery. He decided he was done and just not going to worry about it anymore. About an hour or so later Graziella came and sat next to him with a smile. "What are you so happy about?" he asked without actually looking up from the surgery.

"Well I felt pretty bad about getting you kicked off of the case earlier and I was trying to figure out how to make it up to you and now I found you a present." Graziella's sing-songy enthusiasm was enough to draw Steve out of his funk.

"What is it?" He asked excitedly.

"Oh you'll see. Follow me," With that Graziella pulled him up by his elbow and dragged him out of the room. She pulled him all the way down to the ER and there on a gurney was Dr. Grey fast asleep. Steve couldn't believe his eyes. She was just lying there completely asleep. Her arm was even sticking out for him. He had been waiting all day for his opportunity to arrive and there is was. He turned to Graziella and smiled. This was the best present ever.

"Okay let's get some local anesthetic so we don't wake her up," Steve said as his brain started to work in overdrive. They would have to numb up her arm and then he could probably manage to get the blood without a tourniquet. She was kind of half lying on her arm in a way that would be quite helpful. This was going to work. He could feel it. The biggest problem was going to be making sure no one saw what he was doing.

When Graziella came back with the stuff he needed he asked her to go be his lookout and tell him if anyone was coming. After she went to stand at the end of the hall he was all alone. He couldn't believe this had actually worked out. He put a very liberal amount of anesthetic on her arm and then waited a few minutes. He sanitized the area and then stuck the needle into her arm. The blood was out and he almost breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that he hadn't brought any gauze or anything to hold pressure on the wound until the bleeding stopped. He looked around frantically while keeping his hand on the arm.

He must have shaken her arm or something when he moved because when he turned back Dr. Grey's wide eyes were looking at him. Her gaze quickly turned from confusion to anger as she took in what was happening. "What the _hell_ are you doing?" She asked loudly, with fire in her eyes.

Steve was dumbfounded and just stared back blankly until Graziella came running. "Steve, what the hell are you doing?" She repeated Dr. Grey's question. She then waved a chart in his face and said, "This chart is for Mr. Ray not Dr. Grey. Honestly you're worse than an intern sometimes." She hit him with the chart and started to pull him away. Before they made it anywhere Graziella turned back and produced a gauze square and a Band-Aid from her pocket. "I am so sorry Dr. Grey. My interns can't chart for crap and Steve here is a total idiot." She said this all while pressing the gauze into Dr. Grey's arm and then pulling the Band-Aid across it. "Give me that," She said pulling the blood out of Steve's hands and putting it in her pocket. "Honestly Steve what the hell?" She kept talking as she dragged him away from a very bewildered Dr. Grey.

"Oh my god Graziella that was amazing!" Steve told her as soon as they were away from Dr. Grey. "I can't believe you actually got me out of that without any bloodshed," Steve paused to laugh for a moment, "I mean besides Dr. Grey's!" Steve couldn't believe it. He'd actually gotten the blood. Yang might actually let him live now. Sure Dr. Grey had totally noticed but she might not even be suspicious. God he hoped she wasn't suspicious.

Before he could celebrate too much Steve was paged to the OR to help with the obese patient. Apparently they now needed all hands on deck. Graziella was left covering the ER and so she didn't go and it wasn't until he was almost to the OR that Steve realized that she still had the blood. He was really hoping she would just keep it safe and be discrete but he knew Graziella well enough to know that that was probably a longshot.

As soon as he was out of surgery he scrubbed out as fast as he could and tracked Graziella down. "Hey, do you still have that blood?" He asked her almost begging.

"Nope. I took it to the lab," She told him as she kept walking.

Steve stopped in the middle of the hallway and stared at her. "You took it to the lab?" He was shocked. Stunned. Completely baffled. Why would she do that? "Why would you do that?" he managed to form the words.

She looked back at him curiously, "What else are you supposed to do with a blood sample?"

"_I_ was supposed to give _that_ blood sample to Dr. Yang!" he shouted at her in disbelief.

"Okay. Geez. Sorry. I'm sure she won't care though. This will just save her the trouble of running the labs herself." She said as if it was the simplest thing in the world "If it will make you feel better I'll tell her it was all my fault."

"You can't tell her that it was all your fault because then she'll know that I told you when she told me to keep my mouth shut," Steve responded through gritted teeth.

Just then Graziella's pager went off and she looked at it with excitement, "Oh! There are the labs." She walked off toward the elevators.

Steve just followed her and waited while she went up to the window and picked up the labs. This would be okay. He could bring Yang the labs and just pretend he misunderstood. Graziella was right. What else would you do with a blood sample? His eye's nearly bugged out of his head when he saw Graziella reading the results. "What the hell are you doing?" He practically screamed at her but it was too late. The wide grin spreading across his friends face told him that she had found the reason for the tests. "Give me those," he grabbed the folder out of her hand and closed it quickly.

"But Steve! Dr. Grey is going to have a baby! It's so sweet! Her and Dr. Shepherd totally belong together!" Graziella was practically swooning. Really loudly swooning.

"Shhh!" Steve grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the hallway where people were already giving them funny looks. "That is completely unethical those results are confidential! And none of our business! If they wanted everyone to know why would they go through this much trouble to keep it a secret?"

"I don't know Steve. I kind of think ethics and confidentiality went out the window when they told you to steal the girl's blood," Graziella stated matter-of-factly.

Steve groaned, "Oh god I am so dead." He rubbed his hand over his face. "I'm going to take these results to Dr. Yang and you just keep your mouth shut and don't tell anyone." He started to walk away from her.

Graziella just smiled and said, "Of course Steve. My lips are sealed," She then made a motion like she was locking her mouth and throwing away the key. The giggle she gave after that didn't inspire much confidence. He just had to get these results to Dr. Yang and get away before she really figured out what happened then he would be free to avoid her for the rest of eternity.

Steve steeled himself as he walked off of the elevator and started looking around for Dr. Yang. It wasn't long before he spotted her walking with Dr. Hunt. He gathered all of his courage and walked up to them. "Dr. Yang," he started with a cringe, "I have that thing you asked for."

"Dr. Mostow now's not really the time," Dr. Hunt started to say but Dr. Yang cut him off.

"No it's fine he's been working on something for me," She said.

Hunt looked unconvinced, "Cristina…" he started to say.

Yang shot Steve a look that told him expressly to stop watching so closely and so he wandered to the other end of the hall to wait. The two of them mumbled under their breaths for a minute and Dr. Yang seemed to win whatever dispute they were having because she walked over and pulled Steve into the nearest supply closet.

Steve just stood there panicking. She was going to kill him. "Well…" She finally said when it became clear that he wasn't going to start talking.

"Right. Yes. Here are the… uh… Lab results on Dr. Grey's blood," He held the folder out to her.

She looked at him like he had grown a second head, "Lab results?" She asked. "I told you to get me her blood you idiot!" Steve just held out the folder and kept the rest of his body as far away from her as possible. "Well I guess the results are just as good," She looked them over and seemed pleased. "You didn't look at these did you, Two?"

"Oh no ma'am," technically it wasn't a lie, Graziella had looked at them.

"Okay you've surprised me Dr. Mostow. You actually didn't screw this…." She stopped mid-sentence as her eyes found something unexpected on the page. "Oh my god. You ran these under her real name? Are you a total moron?"

Steve didn't have a response for her. How could Graziella do that? Now this was going to be all over the hospital. He looked at Dr. Yang's dangerous eyes and for lack of any better response just turned around and ran out of the closet. He ran down the hallway; as far away from that mess as he could get. He was very good at hiding in the background and that's exactly what he would do. He was going dodge them all for as long as possible. Maybe for the rest of his career.

**TBC**


	8. One Week

**A/N: Okay here is chapter 8. This chapter is pretty self explanatory. It's told from Mark's perspective and takes place the day after the last chapter. Also, I'm changing the summery of the story to reflect the fact that I have basically included every character in the show and not just Meredith and Derek like I had planned. (The whole thing kind of took on a life of it's own... oops) Anyway, without further ado...**

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**Chapter 8**

Mark Sloan had many skills; many many skills in fact. Unfortunately secret keeping was not one of them. He was a gossip through and through. That's why it was killing him to keep Meredith's super-secret pregnancy to himself. He wanted to talk about it and joke about it and hell, he wanted to dish. That's why he was really excited to hear the halls of Seattle Grace buzzing about Derek and Meredith's impending parenthood. He was a little worried, at first, that the news may have somehow gotten out without Meredith actually figuring it out herself but then one of the guys from the lab told him it had been confirmed with a blood test so he was pretty confident that Meredith already knew.

Mark was having a great time. He was in his element. He was just telling a group of nurses the story of Derek buying all of the decaffeinated coffee in Seattle when Derek showed up in person. "Can I talk to you?" he said in a voice that left Mark knowing that he had very little choice in the matter.

"So what's up?" Mark asked once they were alone in a secluded hallway.

"What are you doing Mark? I thought I could trust you with this." Derek asked him with an accusing tone.

Mark was thrown off by Derek's angry expression. "What do you mean? I didn't do anything." he tried to defend himself.

Derek just sighed and looked Mark in the eyes, "I told you about Meredith in confidence. You weren't supposed to go and tell the whole hospital."

"What?" Mark was genuinely surprised by the accusation, "I didn't tell them."

"Mark I just saw you out there telling a whole group of people and it's all anyone could talk about as I was coming in this morning. Thank god Meredith has the day off or she would have found out about her own pregnancy through the hospital rumor mill," Mark found himself getting more baffled with every word out of Derek's mouth.

"Meredith doesn't already know?" Mark asked with wide eyes. "Man I swear I didn't tell. I just came to work today and it was everywhere. I thought she must have finally figured it out on her own. Apparently there was a blood test?" Mark crossed his arms and stared at Derek with a furrowed brow.

"A blood test?" Derek paused to think about that for a moment. "Oh my god Mostow!" Derek waved a hand in the air.

"What?" Mark asked, he was getting more confused by the second. "Are you speaking in some kind of code?"

"Steve Mostow. The resident." Derek still seemed to be working out something in his head.

"The twitchy kid with the dopey hair?" Mark asked. "What about him?" Mark had been wondering for a while now if Derek was losing it. This was starting to look like a confirmation of that theory.

Derek just went on talking as if Mark hadn't said anything. "Yesterday Meredith came home with a Band-Aid on her arm and said that she woke up from a nap with Steve Mostow standing above her taking her blood. She said that he had done it by mistake…" Derek trailed off for a second, "She may have used more colorful language than that though." He let out a short laugh, "She was pretty pissed."

"So you think Mostow ran the test?" Mark asked, perplexed.

"Well him or someone else," Derek started, "The question is, why would he do it?" Derek paused again.

After a moment their eyes met, "Yang," They both said together.

"What do you suppose possessed her to do that?" Mark asked trying and failing to sound sympathetic instead of amused.

It didn't look like the humor was registering for Derek. It looked more like he was getting ready to panic. "It really doesn't matter what the reason is. We have to fix this before Meredith figures out what's going on and kills me!" Derek said. Mark could see that Derek was really starting to crack under the pressure, "What was I thinking? How could I let this get so out of control? I just wanted this to be right for her, and now it's all falling down on my head!" Yeah, he was definitely freaking out.

"Man you gotta calm down," Mark tried to talk some sense into him. "We just need to figure out a way to keep everyone from talking about it around Meredith. At least until you tell her what's going on.."

"Oh yeah?" Derek scoffed, "Is that all? Thank god I have you, because I had no idea it would be that simple. Just stop the hospital from gossiping. Why didn't I think of that?"

"Okay that was a lot of sarcasm for one person," Mark crossed his arms and looked at Derek for a moment before shrugging, "You know, besides Yang."

"What?" Derek asked; a little annoyed.

"I'm just saying, you know, because Yang is a pretty sarcastic person so it wouldn't be too much…."

"Mark?" Derek interrupted him.

"Yeah?" Mark just looked back.

"Shut up," Derek said. Mark didn't really think that was called for but he understood that Derek was under a lot of pressure.

"Yeah okay man," Mark started before pausing for a moment and then adding, "Why don't we just try telling them the truth? Tell everyone that she doesn't know yet and ask them not to say anything," It wasn't great but it was the best he could come up with.

Derek let out a groan before saying, "I guess it's the only shot we have at this point. Can you work on that while I go talk to Yang? I need to see what the hell happened and also get her to distract Meredith. It may be her day off but that's never really stopped her from coming in to troll for cases before."

"Alright, I can do that," Mark said and the two men went their separate ways.

Mark really didn't have any idea where to start. How did you ungossip something? It seemed a bit like unringing a bell. Impossible. But Mark Sloan was not a man who gave up easily. He was wracking his brain trying to come up with an idea for how to proceed when he saw her. Like a shining beacon of hope. Dr. Bailey.

She was standing alone at a computer that stood off to the side in a bustling hallway. "Dr. Bailey," Mark said in the most nonchalant voice that he could muster.

"Dr. Sloan," she responded in a no nonsense voice without actually looking away from the scans that she was studying on the computer.

"You are looking particularly lovely today Dr. Bailey. Did you change your shampoo?" he tried to butter her up.

"Did you need something Dr. Sloan? Or did you just come over here to waste my valuable time?" She snapped, not giving him the time of day. She still hadn't looked up from the computer.

"I was just wondering if you'd heard the news," He paused and when she didn't respond he decided he had to elaborate further, "That Derek and Meredith are having a baby." He almost hoped she hadn't heard yet. He wanted to at least get to tell one person.

"I heard," she said in a way that told him he better get to his point and fast.

"Well see the thing is she hasn't," He paused, "Meredith I mean," another pause, "hasn't heard that she's pregnant." This was really hard to explain. How had Derek managed to do it so many times without anyone taking him to the psych ward? "She doesn't know. Derek figured it out and was waiting for her to realize on her own but now everyone knows except Meredith and it's a really big problem." Once he got going he found it hard to stop.

"And this has _what_ to do with me?" Bailey asked, sounding more annoyed by the second.

"Well I was kind of hoping that you would… you know, talk to everyone and tell them not to tell her. Because you know, people listen to you. You're Dr. Bailey." Mark could tell by the look on her face that this probably wasn't going to end well.

Bailey finally turned her head away from the computer. He still held hope that she might help him until she started to speak. "Does this look like a middle school?" She asked sharply.

"I'm sorry?" Mark knitted his brow.

"Do I look like your guidance counselor?" She paused for just a moment before continuing. "No. I'm a surgeon. This is a hospital. Serious work goes on here. We save lives here. Is there some reason why you feel the need to talk about everyone behind their backs?"

Mark could tell that she was just getting started so he just held up his hands and started backing away and said, "No ma'am. I'm very sorry Dr. Bailey."

Mark took the opportunity to run in the opposite direction. As he hurried away he heard her mutter under her breath, "Damn fools. Not telling a girl she's pregnant…"

After the Bailey idea fell through Mark was pretty much back to square one. After a little internal deliberation Mark decided the best thing he could do was throw himself on the mercy of the court. He would just tell everyone the truth and ask for their help. These weren't unreasonable people… surly they would come around to his side if he asked nicely.

Boy was he wrong about that. He wasn't sure which was worse; the people who just didn't believe him or the ones that did believe him and made it their personal mission to be there when she figured it out. Even if it meant rigging it so she would find out in front of them. He was in trouble.

By lunch time his spirit was pretty much broken. There was no way he was going to be able to pull this off. He knew that it wasn't really his problem but still he had wanted to come through for his best friend.

He was staring dejectedly at his lunch when Callie came up and threw herself down beside him. She folded her arms and buried her face in them before groaning, "You look how I feel."

"I'm a failure," Mark said, practically pouting as he picked up his fork and started playing with his food.

"What's wrong with you?" Callie asked in a somewhat indignant tone. "I'm the one who is once again right back at the beginning of the dating game. You at least have Teddy."

"I'm actually starting to get a little bored with Teddy," Mark started, "She's just so… _appropriate_," he concluded with a shudder.

"Mark!" Callie started to yell at him before he cut her off.

"That's not really the point though anyway," He began, "I promised I'd help Derek try to get the whole secret pregnancy problem under control but so far all I've managed to do is make it worse," Mark explained with regret.

"Wow so that whole thing is really true? I just thought the rumor mill had gotten out of control…" Callie responded with an awed sort of skepticism.

"Yup it's true," Mark was trying to sound like he was reluctant to discuss it but in reality he didn't think it could do anymore harm at that point and he was still excited to dish.

"I just can't believe she wouldn't realize!" Callie said with a little bit of judgment in her voice.

"This from you, who didn't realize you were attracted to women until last year," Mark challenged with a smirk. When Callie didn't have anything to say in response he went back to the subject at hand, "I just can't figure out anyway to make people stop talking about it. It's like the biggest news since Addison showed up!"

"Mark you weren't even here when Addison showed up," Callie said with a roll of her eyes.

"Yeah but I have still heard people talking about it," Mark said.

"You are such a gossip," Was Callie's only response.

"I know and the one time I want to use my powers for good and I'm completely stuck," Mark whined.

"This is only going to get worse Mark," Callie started, "I wouldn't be surprised if a betting pool cropped up pretty soon. Then you'll be in a lot of trouble if she finds out because of that…" She started to say when Mark cut her off.

"What did you say?" Mark asked with excitement.

"I said that Meredith will be pretty mad if she finds out about her own pregnancy because it's part of a hospital betting pool," Callie explained.

"Callie you're a genius!" Mark said as he stood up.

"What are you talking about?" Callie asked.

"I gotta go! I'll talk to you later!" Mark shouted behind him as he dashed out of the cafeteria.

"But Mark!" Callie called after him, "What did I do?"

It was a little over an hour later and Mark was very proud of himself. He was looking for Derek to explain to him what had transpired. Mark had fixed the problem. He'd fixed it because he was the master of gossip and there was no juicy secret that was outside of his domain. He was strutting down a hall on the surgical floor when he finally ran into a somewhat disheveled looking Derek. "Hey man why the long face?" Mark asked with a bit too much excitement.

"I would have enjoyed fatherhood," Derek began. "I think I would have been pretty good at it too," He continued, "Now Meredith's going to kill me before I ever get the chance to try." Mark thought this was being a little mellow dramatic. He didn't say anything, but instead just stood there smiling for a moment before Derek finally snapped and asked him, "What are you smiling at? You realize you only get to be godfather if I live to see the kid be born," he added with a huff.

"I, Mark Slone, have completely saved your neck!" Mark said as he puffed his chest out a bit.

"What? How?" Derek asked excitedly.

"A betting pool," Mark said with pride.

"What?" Derek asked. "That's terrible! Now everyone in the hospital is going to go out of their way to try and get her to find out during their time! What were you thinking?"

Mark wasn't deterred, "That's just it," He started to explain, "No one is going to want her to find out for at least a week."

"What?" Derek asked, "Why?" he pressed on, "How?"

"My godlike intellect of course," Mark said with a smug grin.

"Mark," Derek was clearly starting to get exasperated.

"Okay, okay," Mark decided that he better just tell him before poor Derek lost his mind. "I bought every time slot until next week," he said.

"What do you mean?" Derek asked with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"In the pool," Mark smiled, "I bought every space for the next week so everyone is going to be going out of their way to keep her from figuring it out until they have a chance to win," He concluded with pride.

"Really?" Derek asked, "You think that will work?"

"Of course it will work," Mark said. "Can't you tell that they've quieted down about it already?" He gestured around them, "You're practically in the clear. And if anyone does try to tell her the people who bet for next week will try to stop them! It's flawless!" Mark could tell already that he was much more excited about that idea than Derek was. "It'll work man! I know it!" he added with eagerness.

"Well I guess it's better than any other plan we've got…" Derek started speaking slowly as he contemplated the idea. "And really that means a lot more people to look after her until she figures it out," Derek added excitedly. "Not that she needs looking after of course," he added hastily.

"You mean you're not just going to tell her?" Mark asked. "You better make sure she figures it out in the next week because I've got a lot of money riding on this," He added.

"Don't worry, if she doesn't figure it out within a week I'll just tell her. I don't want her finding out from the hospital you know," Derek assured his friend.

"Okay so one week and this is all over?" Mark asked.

"No, one week until it all begins," Derek smiled.

"Okay well I've got a surgery to get to," Mark said as he started walking away.

"Me too," Said Derek, walking in the other direction.

"One week?" Mark called over his shoulder.

"One week!" Derek called back. Mark just smiled as he made his way to the OR. He even amazed himself sometimes.

**TBC**


	9. Running Out of Time

**A/N: Hey guys, here is the latest chapter of my story. It took me a while to get it out. Mostly because I wasn't really sure where it was going until it actually got there. This takes place around the episode "Shinny Happy People" but its not necessary for you to have seen the episode. Hope you like it!**

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**Chapter 9**

"This party is going to suck." Derek listened and couldn't help but laugh as Meredith continued to complain about the party he was throwing at their house. They'd both taken the afternoon off the get everything ready at the house and now they were up in their room getting dressed because guests were due to start arriving within the hour.

In general Meredith had been very supportive of Derek in his new role as Chief of Surgery (even though she had been against him taking the job in the first place). Her annoyance with the party actually came from a different source; one Derek couldn't help but be proud of. You see, she probably wouldn't be half as annoyed with the party if she was allowed to drink, but she wasn't. She wasn't allowed to drink because she was on call or, more specifically, because Derek had bribed the Chief Resident to schedule her to be on call during the party. (It didn't hurt that said Chief Resident had put his money on her not finding out that she's pregnant until the following Thursday afternoon) He really was getting pretty good at manipulating her behind her back. He wasn't really sure if that was actually a good thing, but figured that as long as he was doing it out of love it would be okay at least for temporary purposes. And it would certainly come in handy in times of necessity.

"I mean really Derek. Who wants to go to the chief's house for a crappy party on Saturday night when they could actually be out having fun somewhere?" She was looking completely adorable as she stood yelling at him in her underwear. He couldn't help it; he loved it when she was petulant. It was very cute. He reached over and pulled her in for a quick kiss and didn't resist as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him more soundly. "Hmm," She started to say, "This could be a lot better than your dumb party." She kissed him again for emphasis. "Or at least a much nicer way to start of the evening," she added with a flirty laugh.

He spun her around and backed her up to the bed. She pulled him down with her and he was just about ready to forget everything else and spend some much needed quality time with his wife when a crash from downstairs reminded them that they had a house full of caterers and the guests would be arriving at any time. They both let out groans of frustration before he kissed her one last time and they got up.

Derek had intended to finish getting ready but he got caught up watching Meredith. She was, after all, half naked and completely gorgeous. She stood there contemplating her wardrobe and she had never looked so beautiful. If he looked at her just right he could almost imagine that he could tell she was pregnant. There was a slight swell in her lower abdomen that hadn't been there before and he loved it. It wasn't something he thought anyone else would be able to see but the countless hours he spent studying her body made it visible to him. It was just about the sexiest thing he'd ever seen. She was having his baby. He smiled just thinking of it.

She was taking more time getting ready than she normally did. She had spent a couple minutes just standing in front of her closet trying to decide what dress to wear. He knew, even though she hadn't mentioned it to him that it was because some of her clothes were starting to be a bit tight on her and there were even a few things that started out tight and now just didn't fit her at all anymore. He wondered what she could be thinking about that. How she hadn't put it together. Why she hadn't said anything to him. A pang of worry passed over him but then she picked out a purpleish dress that he hadn't seen before and turned around. When she saw him still standing there she gave him a quizzical look. She scrunched up her nose in the way that he loved and tilted her head a bit to the side before saying, "What are you thinking about?" her tone was teasing as she gave him a small smile.

"You," he responded as he took a step closer to her and ran a hand through her hair. "You're pretty when you're naked." He leaned in and lightly kissed the corner of her mouth.

She giggled a little remembering the conversation they'd had in bed a few weeks ago. "Well as much fun as it would be to hide out up here with you all night, we had better get dressed and get down there," She made no move to get ready herself. Instead she pushed herself toward Derek and buried her face in the soft cotton of his tee shirt. She wrapped her arms around him and amended, "Unless you just want to go like this. I don't think anyone would mind, it's out house after all."

He laughed a short laugh and said, "I think I would mind if you went to the party like this. Then everyone would see how pretty you are when your naked and some hot young resident would try to steal you away from me." He pretended to pout.

She laughed before saying, "No one could ever steal me from you. You're stuck with me for life." She smirked a little before adding, "But you're right we should get dressed. How will we control ourselves all night otherwise?" Then she looked at him and put her hands in his hair and kissed him hard. He pulled her in close to him and decided that maybe they did have enough time after all. Just when he was ready to forget about everything outside of their room she pulled away and said, "Think about that while you're bored all night at your crappy party," She laughed as she strutted into the bathroom, leaving him to wonder what exactly had just happened.

He did end up thinking about her all night at his crappy party. He watched as she played the gracious hostess and even went out of her way to be cordial to the Mercy Westers which he knew was entirely for him. If she had her own way they probably wouldn't even be allowed in the house.

The evening wound down without incident and before Derek knew it they were back in their bedroom again. The guests and caters had all gone home and they were alone at last. They were slowly taking off their party clothes and getting ready for bed when Meredith broke the comfortable silence, "I'm not gonna say I told you so, but…"

"The party totally sucked. I know," Derek finished for her while he laughed a little under his breath. Unable to resist any longer he came up behind her and kissed the back of her neck. "Thank you for being great tonight even though I know you didn't want to be there," He sort of half mumbled as he kissed a spot just behind her ear that he knew she loved.

She let out a gentle laugh and said, "Well apparently the reward is going to be well worth it." He briefly wondered when that sort of calm happiness had become a normal everyday part of Meredith. He remembered a time when even a smile from her was a rare gift but somewhere along the line she had changed; she'd found her happiness. He felt so grateful to think that he had been a part of making her so happy. They fell into bed and were finally able to take advantage of their nearly empty house.

Later as Derek watched her sleep in the moonlight he decided it was time to tell her. She was happy. She was ready. It was time. She was so beautiful and when he looked at her he could see their whole lives ahead of them. Their house and the kids that would play there; barbeques in the back yard; family fishing trips; it was all there and all just waiting for them.

He started to wonder if maybe she wasn't in denial. Maybe she really just hadn't noticed. Maybe she was so wrapped up in being happily married and busy at work and worrying about Cristina that she just never had all the puzzle pieces together in her brain.

He wondered if maybe it was him who was in denial. He'd been so unhappy in his new job. It wasn't supposed to be like that. He missed surgery and spending all day teaching Meredith and the other residents. He hated being the babysitter. He thought maybe he was just projecting all of his unhappiness and insecurities on to her.

He decided two things then and there. First, that he needed to make some changes at work. He was so completely unhappy there that is was starting to creep into the rest of his life where he should be nothing but blindly happy. Second, he decided that for better or worse he was going to tell Meredith that she was pregnant. It was time. Really at this point the only thing that was holding him back was the fear that she would be mad at him for telling everyone else before her. He wouldn't be able to blame her for that. Good intentions or not it had gotten completely out of hand. So with that settled he fell into an easy sleep.

The problem was that the next day came and went and he hadn't been able to make the time to tell her. He'd been in board meetings all day and dealing with Karev's patient and anytime he'd had alone with Meredith had been filled either with her complaining about Owen and Cristina or with them both just being quietly happy to be together. He'd had the opportunity to tell her in those quiet moments but it was hard to get up the courage when he was worried about her reaction. And she was just so damn happy. All of the time, and he loved it but he also didn't really know how to say this the right way so that she would still just be shiny and happy. (As she would have put it once upon a time.) In short: He'd chickened out.

The next day was Monday and he hated it but he chickened out again. He'd had another 5 hours' worth of board meetings and then she'd been in surgery and then he had a surgery. Plus he thought it ought to be a little special at least. He couldn't just blurt it out over a sandwich in the hospital cafeteria. At least that's what he told himself when they were eating their small dinner together before he went home and she scrubbed in for one more surgery.

And that was that. She got home late Monday night and he left early Tuesday morning and he spent most of Tuesday trying to track her down but it just wouldn't work out. Between his still busy schedule and hers which seemed to be particularly bad that day he didn't catch more than a glimpse of her all day. It was like whenever he came close to tracking her down she had just left the area and then she'd actually come looking for him at lunch time but he was stuck in a board meeting. The end of the day came and she was in surgery so he resigned himself to telling her as soon as she got home.

The problem was she never came. He waited nervously for a long time. He made a small dinner but then as the evening wore on he'd given the dinner to Alex and Lexie. He figured that she must have gotten tied up with a case and so he just gave up and headed to bed. He decided that whenever she came home that night he would tell her and if she didn't come home or he slept through it he would page her to his office in the morning and tell her then.

He knew he would have to tell her the next morning because it was Wednesday morning. Her week was up and the hospital betting pool would begin that afternoon. It was time. There was no more avoiding it. But it would all be okay because the news was magical all by itself it didn't matter how it happened or why.

That's where his mistake had been from the beginning. He thought it mattered how she found out and when and where but it really didn't. It wasn't important, because no matter the details what really mattered was that they had made a baby. They were going to be family and maybe it wasn't perfect all of the time but family isn't perfect. It's messy, and it is there whether you think want it or not. This is real life and Derek finally realized that it didn't need to be tied up in a neat little bow to be right. It was just the way it was supposed to be no matter what. When he realized all of that it was like the weight he had been carrying around for weeks was finally lifted. He knew it would all work out in the end.

**TBC**


	10. Discoveries

**A/N: Okay here is my next chapter. T****his chapter fits in kind of weird with the chapter 9 because in the chapter 9 Derek was having trouble tracking Meredith down all day on Tuesday and then ended Tuesday night with him planning to talk to her the next day but this chapter is from Mer's perspective starting Tuesday morning and moving on from there. I don't think It's probably that hard to follow I just didn't want anyone to be confused.**

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**Baby Daddy- Chapter 10**

Meredith couldn't believe she was freaking puking again. What the hell was wrong with her? She was just glad that Derek had gone to work early so he didn't see her doing it. She knew he would be concerned that she was throwing up again. Really, she was surprised that he hadn't mentioned it already. But she didn't feel all that sick other than throwing up all the time.

Truth be told, that wasn't the only reason she was glad that Derek was already at work. He had been acting crazy for the past couple of days. Well, he'd been acting crazy for a while, but especially crazy for the past couple of days. It almost reminded her of when he was trying to ask her to marry him but could figure out how.

She smiled at the memory. When she'd finally confronted him in the hospital lobby. She thought he was freaking out about babies, but he'd just kissed her and told her that he wanted her crappy babies. Then, as quickly as her smile had come it disappeared because at the exact moment that she thought of babies her eyes caught the unopened box of tampons sitting on the bathroom shelf. It was like she had been hit by a truck, and it was suddenly very important that she remember when she bought those tampons. When did she buy them? She searched her brain and the only answer that she could come up with was that it had been winter. She remembered the cold Seattle sleet and her winter coat. That was not good since it was now May and she'd never used them. God, she'd never used them. She promptly puked one more time and then lay down on the bathroom floor facing the ceiling.

Pregnant. God, she could barely bring herself to even think the word. But the more she thought about it the more sense it made. She could definitely be pregnant, and not just a little bit pregnant, but like really really pregnant. Like, make one of those shows on TLC about her, pregnant. She was practically one of those women who end up giving birth while their driving because they didn't even realize they were pregnant. Then she realized that she was going to have to give birth. How was she ever going to handle that? She'd seen it, and frankly, it was pretty gross. And painful. And nothing down there would ever be the same. Not to mention what was going to happen after the thing came out. She was not cut out to be a mother. She would probably be one of those parents who forget their kid in a supermarket or something.

A while later she was still just laying there thinking of all of the reasons why she would be a horrible mother when she heard her alarm go off. The puking had woken her up early but now it was time to get ready to go to work. She lay there for a couple minutes listening to the alarm going off before she finally got herself off the floor and went to turn it off. She briefly thought about calling in sick to work but quickly decided that that wouldn't be a good idea. Work was a good distraction. She needed to work.

She got into the shower and after about 45 minutes in there she felt almost human again. She had to rush through the rest of her morning routine which was especially hard because she did it all in a daze while her brain was a million miles away. She actually had two different shoes on for a minute but luckily noticed before walking out of the house. She was almost out of the door when a pang of worry hit her. She should eat something. For the baby. She was feeling much better now so she wandered back into the kitchen and stared at the food there. She thought that it should probably be something healthy and so, for one crazy second, she contemplated eating some of Derek's muesli before she just shuddered and moved on. She looked in the fridge and the second she opened the door she could smell the cold pizza and knew she had to have it. She laughed for the first time that morning. This poor baby is never going to stand a chance. She felt a little bit bad so she grabbed an apple along with her two slices of yesterday's pizza.

She was driving to work with her breakfast sitting on the dashboard when a drug store caught her eye. She was already going to be late so decided what the hell and pulled into the parking lot. She was walking through the isles looking for the pregnancy tests when something else caught her eye. Pre-natal vitamins. Why hadn't she been taking those? She knew they were recommended for all woman of child bearing age and yet she just never thought it would be her. She looked at the bottle on the shelf and decided that she should obviously be taking them either way, given the situation she now found herself in, so she grabbed a bottle and moved on. She got her pregnancy test and then went to check out. As she set her stuff on the counter and the clerk rang them up she could swear she felt the clerk staring at her the whole time. Pregnant. Pregnant. Pregnant. It was like the word itself was actually floating in the air around her. Once she had paid she grabbed her stuff and got the hell out of there.

As expected, she was late for work and rounds had already started by the time she got there. She slid into place beside Cristina and just hoped not to get yelled at. "Hey look who decided to show up." Cristina said with a smirk.

"Would you just Shh," Meredith whispered and they rounded a corner.

"Oh relax, it's not like this bone head they got us for a chief resident would ever even notice," Cristina said entirely too loudly for Meredith's liking.

Meredith could help but laugh though, "Yeah he's definitely no Dr. Bailey." They finished rounds without incident and Meredith was very happy to have ended up on a general surgery case. She wanted to be as far away from neuro as she could possibly get. Maybe she should have gone with plastics but really then she'd have to worry about Derek stopping in to visit with her and Mark and she needed to figure out where her head was before she even thought about discussing anything with Derek. No way would Derek try and visit her while she was on Dr. Bailey's service. Chief or not there's no way she would let him get away with _that_.

So her morning passed mostly without incident. She didn't really know why she was avoiding Derek but she was. She thought that maybe if she was standing on more solid ground it would be okay. If only she knew where she stood. So she decided to take the test and then tell him but she also knew that he would see right through her if she talked to him. He had this annoying way of knowing exactly what she was thinking even when she didn't really want him to. So when lunch time rolled around she decided that was it. She would take the test. She had to. She couldn't just ignore this and hope it went away.

She went and got the test which she had safely deposited in her locker that morning and walked to the nearest bathroom. The problem was she couldn't go in. She was freaking out. She was just standing there staring at the door and she couldn't make her feet work. How was she just supposed to go in there and have her whole world change in 3 minutes? There was no way. She'd been wrong before. She needed Derek. With that thought she rushed off down the hall to find him.

She spent another couple minutes pacing in front of Derek's office before she finally got up the guts to go in. She found Patricia eating her lunch at her desk in the outer office. "Hey Patricia, is he free?" She asked as she motioned toward Derek's office door.

"Sorry Dr. Grey he's actually stuck in a board meeting that's running long. Would you like me to page him?" Patricia responded apologetically.

"No," Meredith started, "No, that's okay. I'll just catch up with him later." She just shook her head and backed out of the office.

She was trying to decide whether to just get it over with and take the test herself or wait for Derek when fate decided for her and her pager went off. 911 to Bailey's patient. She didn't have time to stop at her locker and she didn't want to leave the test in her pocket so it was with an unexpected stinging in her eyes that she threw the still unopened test in the trash and ran off to answer her page.

As she rushed to get to her patient's room a new wave of doubt and self-recrimination washed over her. How was she ever going to find time to be a mother if she didn't even have time to take a stupid pregnancy test? And Derek. She loved him more than anything but it felt like ever since he became chief they barely saw each other. She knew she was being unreasonable. That this was just one day. That they would make time. Or she could hear Derek's voice in her head telling her that at least.

But there was another voice rolling around in her brain. Her mother. She remembered a long time ago when she was a child and her mother never had time for her. She remembered grabbing her mother and _screaming _for attention only to be pushed aside for surgery. Would she ever leave her child with that kind of desperation? She remembered her mother telling her she wasn't good enough. That she was ordinary. It had been a long time since she'd really let her mother get to her like this but once she started it was hard to stop.

They managed to stabilize the patient but after a couple hours of close monitoring it became clear that they would have to go back to the OR. They had to do an exploratory laparotomy and just repair any damage they found along the way. It was a long surgery and by the time she was out Meredith knew that Derek had long since gone home. She decided that maybe it was for the best. She really needed to figure her head out before she talked to him.

She could have gone home at that point. She probably should have gone home; but she didn't. It was Tuesday and she'd already told Derek that every Tuesday night she was going to be staying at the hospital and trolling for cases. She knew it was a lame excuse but she held onto it with both hands, even while a voice inside her head kept screaming _coward_.

With a heavy heart she went to the cafeteria and ate dinner by herself. She checked the OR board but there wasn't anything interesting yet and she was starting to feel the exhaustion of the day catching up to her so she just paid off a nurse to page her if any interesting cases came up and went to an on call room to take a nap.

The problem was she couldn't sleep. She just lay there staring at the bunk bed above her. Using her eyes to trace the patterns on the bottom of the mattress. It's amazing how your inner demons can just swirl around you when you're alone in the dark. She thought of all the reasons why this was a bad idea, why she would be the worst mother in the world. She didn't even really like kids all that much. She'd never even held a baby outside of work.

Actually, she corrected herself, she had held a baby once. That day a few weeks ago when Mark had let her hold Little Sloan's baby. Well, 'let' might be the wrong word. He'd practically tossed the thing at her. But still that baby was pretty cute; so perfect and new. He had looked at her with so much innocence, so much trust. No one had neglected him or damaged him yet and really, maybe no one ever had to.

The other part of that memory was Mark. Sweet Mark who was both the biggest jerk and the nicest guy she knew. To her baby he would be Uncle Mark, always ready to have a good time. And of course there was Cristina who you could tell anything and she would never judge. She was a great shoulder to cry on and in the end was always there to help you laugh at your problems. They would be her baby's Godparents.

And there was the difference. Even if she did end up exactly like her mother her kids would still have people around. Derek would never ever leave his children like Thatcher had left her. And there was Lexie who would be an amazing aunt. Between her and Derek the poor kid was bound to end up the most optimistic and chatty person on the planet. And strong loyal Alex who would be her baby's rock in a storm.

Then she thought about the uncharacteristically optimistic foundation waiting for them out in the woods. Someday it would be her and Derek's house. The place where their kids would grow up. It was almost ready for them. With a nursery that was rather thinly veiled as a guest room and a big room where the kids could play. They would have such a great life in that house.

She could see it all in front of her like it was a movie. She laughed even as tears fell from her eyes. She couldn't believe that as she lay alone in a dark on call room she was having a freaking revelation. Tentatively she let her hand creep down to her abdomen and was a little overwhelmed by the love she could already feel in that small act.

Really, she knew she was nothing like her mother. She smiled when she remembered Alex telling her that just a few weeks ago. All she had to do was look around her to know they were two very different people. Her life was so rich and full and crowded and messy; none of those were things she could associate with her mother. The fear that took her over sometimes, that was Ellis's. But the warmth and love and joy that was all her; her and Derek. Just like this baby would be her and Derek. She drifted off to sleep then with a small happy smile on her face. She would tell Derek in the morning and then things would really get started.

She woke up a couple hours later to the sound of her pager. It was Shadow Shepherd with a motorcycle accident victim. No helmet and lots of cool brain injuries. She briefly wondered if as an almost mother she ought to be more concerned about this kind of injury. After all her baby would one day be old enough to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. But in the end she just shrugged it off. Maybe those things come with time. She was mostly just excited to work with Dr. Nelson because he always let her do the coolest parts of the surgery.

A few hours later she was scrubbing out of surgery with a smile pretty much permanently attached to her face. She was high on surgery and she was high on life. And she really had to pee and decided that it was as good a time as any to take her pregnancy test. Not that she was worried about it. She was basically positive that she was pregnant. This was just confirmation.

So she snuck into the supply closet and stole a pregnancy test and then went over to the bathroom. She took the test and then put it back into its package and stuck it in her pocket. She thought it was a bit disgusting to put something in her pocket that she had just peed on but really she was sure there had been worse things in her pocket as a doctor. And also, if that was the grossest part of this whole parenthood adventure she would be getting off easy.

She walked to the residents' locker room as slowly and casually as she could manage but was very disappointed to find people in there when she arrived. They looked like they were about to leave so she just fussed around in her locker for a moment, rearranging some stuff, putting on some lotion. Finally the people cleared out and Meredith was able to pull the test out of her pocket. She paused for a moment before pulling it back out of the wrapper and looking at the result. _Pregnant_. One little word and her life was changed forever. She let out a small happy sigh and then hid the test in the back of the locker.

Once she was out of the locker room she was kind of at a loss for what to do next. It was still too early for Derek to get there but if she didn't tell him soon she was going to explode. But then, as if being her person had also equipped her with some kind of ESP, Cristina chose exactly that moment to page her down to the tunnels. Meredith tried to act natural as she rushed down to the basement to meet her best friend but as soon as she got there she realized she must have failed miserably.

Cristina surely had a reason to page Meredith at that moment but as soon as she saw Meredith her faced changed into a sort of amused curiosity. "Okay what's your problem?" She asked unceremoniously.

"Um, nothing," Was all Meredith could muster.

"Nothing?" Cristina asked with a scoff, "If it's nothing why do you look like…" She paused for a second as if searching for a simile, "I don't know. What's the opposite of someone kicking your puppy?"

Meredith decided not to beat around the bush. "I'm pregnant," She said, saying the words out loud for the first time since she'd realized they might be true almost 24 hours earlier.

"No way!" Cristina shouted in kind of a weird way.

"Yeah," Was all Meredith could think to respond.

"No freaking way," Cristina said again. It was still weird though. Meredith almost wondered if her best friend had already known somehow.

"Right?" Again Meredith was a little at a loss for words.

"Oh my god! Okay. Um… Were you trying to…?" Cristina trailed off at the end.

"No! Total accident! I used the thing!" Meredith said getting a little wrapped up in Cristina's amusingly loud reaction.

"Oh. So are we happy about this or are we exercising our legal right to choose?" Meredith was at a loss for words that would adequately explain how she was feeling to Cristina. She certainly couldn't talk about all the crying in the on call room. She struggled for a second to find something to say but Cristina saved her the trouble and just let out a big laugh and threw out her arms, "Okay!" She said in a way that made Meredith let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Cristina was on board with this. She had her person. "Alright!" She added, "Congratulations! Let's hug it out!" Then Cristina hugged her and Meredith was embarrassed to find herself getting a little misty-eyed. She could always count on Cristina. This was gonna be good.

**TBC**


	11. The One Where Meredith Finds Out

**A/N: Alright so up until this point this story has followed the actual plot of the show and episodes of season 6 pretty closely but since I don't really want to include the shooting or basically anything that happened around the shooting I'm going to sort of leave the actual events of the show behind now and just continue as if the season 6 finale never happened. So the next three chapters are going to be stealing a lot of their plot from my all time favorite episode of Friends. (Season 5 episode 14 "The one where everyone finds out")**

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**Baby Daddy 11**

Meredith couldn't believe that she chickened out. She'd just had the chance in his office, but she hadn't told Derek that she was pregnant. He'd just been in such a bad mood. She didn't want to tell him while he was in a bad mood. Especially after how weird he'd been acting lately.

She was walking down to the tunnels to tell Cristina about her total lack of courage when she literally ran right into Lexie. At first they both just stepped back and apologized but when Lexie got a good look at Meredith's generally anxious demeanor she asked, "Are you alright?"

Meredith Just sighed and said, "Yeah I'm fine." They were both heading to the elevator.

Lexie looked at Meredith as they stepped onto the elevator. "You're so not fine," was all Lexie said until the doors had closed, leaving them alone together. "You look like you are about to go into battle or something," Lexie paused before adding, "And you just said you're fine which everyone knows means you're totally not fine."

Meredith groaned and leaned her head against the back of the elevator, "When the hell did you become so good at reading me?" She asked indignantly. It really was annoying that people thought they knew what she was thinking all of the time. Even when they were right. _Especially_ when they were right. Lexie just looked at her with her eyebrows raised. "Okay fine. I'm gonna tell you but you have to swear you won't tell anyone. Because I already told Cristina and not Derek and he really should have been the one I told first." She was definitely starting to feel the stress of the last few days catching up to her.

"What is it Mere?" Lexie asked with real concern starting to show through.

Meredith just scrunched up her face and said, "I'm Pregnant."

"Oh," Lexie said, a little relieved, "Is that all?" she knew as soon as she said it that it was the wrong move. She was a terrible liar.

Meredith's eyes popped open and she gave Lexie an incredulous look. "What the hell do you mean? 'Is that all?' What else would there be? This is like the biggest thing that's happened since… freaking forever!" Meredith paused for a second and looked at Lexie more closely, "And, oh my god, you already knew!" She pointed an accusing finger at Lexie.

Lexie was at a loss. She tried to act natural, "Oh no. I'm very surprised!" she gulped, "I can't believe it! You're really pregnant?" She paused, "That's amazing!" She looked at Meredith to see if she was buying it.

She wasn't. "What the hell Lexie? How do you already know? Who told you? Because I've only even said anything to Cristina." She was shouting questions very quickly and Lexie was getting turned around a bit. Then Meredith's eyes got really wide, "How long have you known?" The pieces were almost starting to fall together for Meredith.

"Um, what?" Lexie hadn't been expecting _that_ question.

Meredith pulled the stop button on the elevator and turned on Lexie. "It's a simple question Lexie. How long have you known that I'm pregnant?" She repeated the question as she literally backed poor Lexie into a corner.

Lexie racked her brain for anything that would get her out of this but in the end just gave up and said, "A few weeks," before bracing herself for her sister's impending explosion.

"Weeks?" Meredith yelled, "Weeks?" she repeated. Then she continued in a voice that was low and quiet and made Lexie a little afraid for her life, "How the _hell_ have you known for _weeks_?"

Lexie was trying to think of the words that would keep Meredith from killing her right there on the spot, but in the end she could only come up with the truth. "Alex told me," She sighed in defeat.

"Alex told you?" Meredith couldn't believe her ears. "Alex told you?" She repeated. "Who told Alex?" Meredith asked that question mostly to herself, but when she saw Lexie flinch she knew that her sister knew the answer. "Lexie, who told Alex?"

Lexie just cringed and said in a resigned tone, "I think Derek told Alex." Lexie slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor of the elevator and Meredith started to pace.

"Derek?" She exclaimed loudly; in shock. "_Derek_ told _Alex_ that _I'm_ pregnant?" Lexie just nodded from her place on the floor. "Oh I see," Meredith began, "And how did Derek know?" she asked with a feigned sweetness that was almost more frightening than the screaming.

"I think he just figured it out," Lexie answered from her place on the floor.

"Figured it out?" Meredith was yelling again. "He 'figured it out'?" Meredith asked with air quotes. Before Lexie had a chance to respond Meredith continued on her own. "So Derek 'figured it out' and then instead of telling me about it he told Alex. _Alex_! Why would he do that Lexie?" Meredith asked as she turned to stare at her sister.

"Well I think everyone just thought you would take the news better if you figured it out on your own," Lexie paused before continuing, "They thought that you would be more ready for it if you came to the conclusion slowly. But really in our defense no one thought it would take you this long to figure it out. I mean really. Are you even still in your first trimester?"

"I don't know what trimester I'm in because I haven't been to the doctor yet because no one told me that I'm pregnant!" Meredith yelled through her clenched teeth. Then she paused as something Lexie said registered with her, "Wait, what do you mean 'everyone'? Who all knows?" Meredith was starting to lose steam and so asked this last question a little more nicely.

Lexie had really been hoping that Meredith wouldn't ask her that. "Everyone Meredith," she explained quietly, "_Everyone_ knows you're pregnant." Lexie looked her sister in the eye.

"Huh," Meredith said as she sat down on the floor near her sister. "Like _everyone_ everyone?" She asked. As the anger was fading she found herself giving into shock. _Everyone_ knew.

"Yeah but Meredith don't be mad. Derek was really just trying to help. He just told Alex so that he could help keep an eye on you to, you know, make sure you didn't accidentally do anything to hurt the baby. And then they told Cristina so that she wouldn't take you out drinking and I know Derek and Mark went around and replaced basically all the coffee in the hospital with decaf."

"Well that _is_ kind of sweet," Meredith conceded.

"So you're not mad at Derek?" Lexie asked.

"Oh I'm mad," Meredith said calmly, "I'm gonna kill him with my bare hands," she continued. "But it's still kind of sweet," she added with a small smile. Then she seemed to realize that they were still on the stopped elevator and reached over to push the button in before standing up and offering Lexie her hand. As the doors opened to the basement they both stepped out "You know I'm going to kill you too though, right?" Meredith said in a pleasant tone.

"Oh I assumed," Lexie said with a brave voice.

"But first there's Cristina to deal with," Meredith said as they turned to corner to find Cristina sitting and charting on a gurney. "You who call yourself my person!" Meredith yelled before Cristina had even heard them coming.

"Mere?" Cristina asked with a slightly high-pitched lilt to her voice. "How you doing? Did you tell Derek about the…" she looked at Lexie, "Thing?"

"Oh, you mean the baby?" Meredith asked. "The baby that apparently everyone knew about except me!" She added, so there was no misunderstanding her intention.

"Yeah that'd be the one," said Cristina.

"No I chickened out, but then I ran into Lexie here in the elevator and she told me some very interesting things," Meredith responded.

"Oh yeah?" her attempt to feign ignorance was disrupted by the glare she shot at Lexie.

"Yeah," started Meredith, "It seems that everyone already knew I was pregnant. Well, everyone except me that is. You mind telling me why you didn't think that little bit of information was something I needed to know?"

"Alright, that's it." Cristina said while holding up her hands and rolling her eyes. "Stop being a drama queen. I didn't say anything because McDreamy asked me not to and I didn't want to step all over your shinny happy moment or whatever. It was all Derek's idea and you only have yourself to blame. You're the one who post-it married the guy."

"Okay," Lexie started, "The important thing isn't who's to blame for what. The important thing is that you know now, and all of the secrets and lying can finally be over!" Lexie was really looking forward to not keeping this secret anymore.

"Or you could not tell him that you know yet and we could use this opportunity to mess with him." Cristina said with a small smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Oh I like that!" responded Meredith. "That could be really fun!" She wasn't sure that she was actually really mad at Derek but revenge sounded really appealing at that moment.

"Oh no," Lexie said, "No. No Mere, you know what would be more fun?" She paused, "Telling him!"

"Yeah… No I wanna to Cristina's thing," Meredith responded with glee.

"No, Come on Mere!" Lexie said, "I can't take anymore secrets!"

"Oh come on Little Grey you don't even have to do anything. Just don't tell him that she knows." Cristina responded with a roll of her eyes.

"No!" Lexie started, "I can't take anymore secrets! I've got your secrets. I've got Derek's secrets. I've got secrets of my own you know!" Lexie was definitely whining now.

"You don't have any secrets." Meredith responded with a small laugh.

"I," Lexie gaped at them for a second, "Do too!" She let out a huff and crossed her arms.

"So how do you want to mess with him?" Cristina asked Meredith, completely ignoring Lexie.

"You are both monsters!" Lexie stomped her foot and walked away.

**TBC**


	12. TOW Meredith Finds Out  Part 2

**A/N: Okay, here is the next installment of my story. It's sort of off the wall but it kind of had to be to work with my plan. I hope you like it in spite of the fact that it's on crack (or maybe because of that fact). Anyway let me know. : ) It's still stealing plot ideas from the same episode of season 5 Friends ("The One Where Everybody Finds Out").**

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******Baby Daddy 12**

Mark was sitting in his office doing some paper work when there was a knock at his door. "Come in," He called without getting up. He was slightly surprised to see Meredith open his door and walk in. "Hey how's it going Big Grey?" He asked cheerfully even though something in her eyes told him to be afraid.

"Mark," She paused for just a moment after saying his name. "Just the man I wanted to see." She walked all the way into his office, closed the door and leaned on the side of his desk.

"What can I do for you?" Mark asked carefully while looking up at her from his chair.

"I need you for a consult," Meredith said slowly.

"Oh!" Mark said with relief, "Why didn't you say so? You could have just paged me you know. Who's the patient?" Mark was putting his paperwork away and switching to doctor mode but Meredith hadn't moved from where she was leaning on his desk.

"No Mark," She began, "_I_ need you for a consult." She emphasized the word 'I'.

"For what?" He asked dumbfounded.

"Well," she began with a slight pout, "I'm sure you've probably noticed that I've put some weight on recently," She pulled her shirt against her slightly protruding stomach.

"Oh! I, um, haven't noticed a thing actually," Mark struggled to sound nonchalant.

"Well I have," said Meredith, "And I don't like it. And I don't like what it represents."

"What it represents?" Mark asked, worried.

"Yeah, the weight is just a symptom of a larger problem," When Mark didn't respond Meredith just continued, "Clearly I'm getting old and my metabolism has gone right out the window."

"What?" Mark asked with shock. He'd been sure she was going to tell him that she was pregnant.

"Yes. And I've been thinking about this for a while now," she began again, "I don't just want you to do the liposuction."

"You don't?" Mark deadpanned.

"No. I'd also like a face lift and I think also breast augmentation," Meredith said as she pretended to examine her breasts.

Mark's eyes got really wide as he realized what she was saying, "You want me to give you a boob job?"

"Yes," She responded with the same blasé attitude that was really starting to freak him out.

"Wow Grey, I didn't really think you were that kind of person to get plastic surgery. What does Derek think about the idea?" He asked, hoping that Derek would be able to talk some sense into her.

"Oh, I haven't told Derek yet," Meredith responded easily.

"You haven't?" Mark asked, trying not to sound too disappointed.

"No, I think I'll just surprise him when it's all done," Meredith said with a giddy smile.

Mark raised his eye brows, "You're going to _surprise_ Derek by getting plastic surgery?" He asked in shock.

"Yeah, why? Do you think he'll guess that's what I'm up to?" Meredith asked sweetly.

"No I think we can safely say that this would be the last thing in the world Derek would think you were up to," Mark said slowly.

"Great so you'll do it?" Meredith asked cheerily.

"Um, I don't know Big Grey. Maybe you should look for someone who's not so close to you to do it. I mean do you really want _my_ hands to be you know…" Mark's sentence trailed off awkwardly for a moment before he added with a shudder, "Touching you… in… places?" His hands were gesturing awkwardly in her direction.

"Mark, I want you to do it because you're the best around," Meredith started to say.

"Well I guess that's understandable," Mark interjected with a small proud smirk.

"I've seen you work Mark and you're amazing. You're like a God in the OR," She added hoping she wasn't going over the top.

"I can't argue with that," Mark said somewhat arrogantly, "I'll tell you what Grey, I'll think about it and get back to you later," he added hoping he would never actually have to get back to her.

"Well I guess I can't ask for more than that," Meredith said as she stood up and started heading for the door. At the last moment she turned back to him and said, "But let's make it sooner rather than later." With that she walked out and left him sitting dumbfounded and alone.

Meredith closed the door behind her and as she turned around the corner she saw Lexie and Cristina waiting for her. "Oh my god that was terrible," Meredith said as she walked up to her friends. She shuddered a little as she tried to mentally remove herself from the horror of that conversation. She laughed slightly before adding, "He was totally freaked out though. He's definitely going to run straight to Derek."

"He really bought it? He's dumber than I thought," Cristina said with surprise.

"Lexie had it exactly right. All I had to do was mention my boobs, flirt a little and give him over the top complements. Poor guy never even knew what hit him. Thanks Lex!" Meredith laughed a little.

Lexie just groaned, "Okay, that's just gross," she gave Meredith a look of disgust before adding, "I helped you trick Mark and get your weird revenge ball rolling now can I go? I just want to hide somewhere until this whole thing blows over."

"Yes Lexie you can go," Meredith said with a smile. Then she added, "But that doesn't mean I don't reserve the right to call you back without notice." Lexie just nodded and quickly walked away without another word. Secretly though, she was more than a little pleased that she still knew how Mark worked well enough to get him into trouble.

Once Lexie was gone Cristina and Meredith turned and started walking down the hallway arm in arm. "I really can't believe I just did that," Meredith said in a tone that was equal parts awed and disgusted. "I think I need a shower," she joked before adding a serious comment, "But first I'm headed up to OB for a quick check up."

Cristina turned and looked at her friend with surprise, "You're going without Derek?" She asked.

"Oh don't look at me like that. It's not going to be a real appointment. Just, you know, confirm that I'm actually pregnant, see how far along I am and make sure everything's okay. I really should have gone to the doctor a long time ago. There could be something wrong and I wouldn't even know it. I just can't have this worry hanging over my head if we're going to be keeping this a secret a while longer. Besides if he wanted to come he should have told me two months ago like a normal person," Meredith was rambling a little, but she had every right. This was an entirely ramble-worthy situation.

Cristina just shrugged and asked, "Well do you want me to…"

"No I'm perfectly capable of going to a doctor's appointment by myself," Meredith said a little defensively. Really though, she'd decided that if Derek wasn't going with her then no one was.

"Okay, well if it's any consolation, your blood work looked great," Cristina said with a smirk.

"My blood work?" Meredith asked, surprised, "Nevermind, I really don't think I want to know." With that the two friends lapsed into silence as they continued to walk.

Meanwhile, back in Mark's office, he was flummoxed. He actually pinched himself to make sure that what just happened wasn't some kind of crazy dream or hallucination. When he didn't wake up he decided that he really had to talk to Derek. He got up and headed over to Derek's office. He burst through Derek's door without knocking and said, "Okay, you really have _got _to tell your wife that she's pregnant!"

Derek just groaned and threw his head down on the desk, "I Know!" he said into his paperwork.

"No. You don't know Derek," Mark started. "You don't know, because if you had any idea…!" Mark was pacing in front of Derek's desk.

Derek finally caught on to the fact that Mark was even more freaked out than he was and just looked at him for a second before asking, "What's up Mark?" in a patronizing tone.

"Meredith!" Mark shouted a little, "Meredith is what's up!" Derek just looked at him. "She just came into my office and asked," Mark paused for a moment, "She asked for…" he couldn't even bring himself to say it out loud.

Derek just looked at him like he'd lost his mind, "She asked for what, Mark?"

"She just asked me to give her plastic surgery!" Mark finally just spit it out.

"What?" Derek asked with a laugh. "Very funny Mark. I don't really get the joke but I'm sure it's hysterical," he continued with a shake of his head.

"No, I swear to god man. She was acting really weird!" When Derek didn't say anything he kept going, "I'm not kidding! She thinks she's getting old and fat or something. Seriously! She just came into my office and said she wanted me to give her breast implants!"

Derek just looked at Mark like he'd grown a second head, "You're serious?" he asked incredulously.

"As a heart attack," Mark said with assurance looking him straight in the eye.

Derek just rolled his eyes, "Okay, well there's no way that's right, so you clearly just must have misunderstood what she was saying to you."

"I didn't!" Mark tried to protest but Derek just gave him a sympathetic look like he was talking to a confused child and Mark knew there was no way he would believe it unless he saw it himself. He left Derek's office in defeat.

It was a little before lunch time when Derek saw Meredith again. They had decided to meet in the cafeteria and eat together a little early because that's when they both had time. She was waiting at a table drinking a coffee and lost in thought when he found her. He quietly walked up behind her and kissed her cheek. She jumped slightly but then turned her head toward him and smiled, kissing him gently on the lips. "Hi! I didn't see you coming!" She said cheerfully.

Derek just smiled back at her, "So I gathered," he said with a laugh. Then his eyes caught what she was drinking, "Your coffee smells good," he said, trying to get her to tell him what exactly was in the cup.

"Oh yeah, well I don't actually have time for lunch right now because I have to head in to surgery but I figured I could at least have some coffee with you." She smiled. She was going to have some fun with him. Of all the crazy things she had endured over the last couple months the coffee thing had definitely been the weirdest for her and she was going to give him a taste of his own medicine.

"So you went and got that yourself? No one got it for you?" Derek asked, trying to sound cool. "I mean," He paused, "I just ask because you told me everyone keeps bringing you coffee all of the time."

Meredith just smirked a little and nodded her head in that way that told him she thought he was acting like a freak. "No, I got this coffee my myself," she began, " For some reason I just haven't been getting enough kick from my coffee lately so I had them put in three extra shots of espresso to keep me awake during my surgery." She smiled at him and took a drink. It wasn't really caffeinated; she figured that she'd apparently been living without caffeine for months without noticing so there was no reason to worry about it now. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to have some fun at Derek's expense.

"Oh," Derek said with raised eyebrows, "three shots you say," he was trying to think quickly, the months of practice hadn't really made him any better at taking away his wife's coffee. Yet another reason why he had to tell her as soon as possible. "Can I try some?" He asked, "It sounds really good." He reached out and took the coffee out of her hands without waiting for her response. He then pretended to fumble and dropped the coffee on the floor, "Oh damn. Sorry Mere, let me go get you another one," He looked at her while he tried to act natural.

She just smiled and said, "Oh no that's okay, I sort of thought something like that might happen," She narrowed her eyes at him slightly while giving him a knowing smile, "It has been happening a lot lately," She reached down to the floor by her feet and pulled up a new coffee cup, "That's why I bought two." She held the cup up to him in a salute before taking another drink. Derek's jaw dropped. What was he going to do now? Just then Meredith's pager went off. She looked down at it and said, "Oh damn, I have to go." She stood up with her coffee cup still in hand, kissed him sweetly on the corner of his mouth and left him shocked and staring after her.

It was a couple hours later before they all met up again. Derek and Mark were walking down the hall when Meredith came around the corner from the other direction. Mark quickly shoved Derek behind a supply cart and whispered, "Just watch!" through his teeth. As Meredith approached he called out, "How's it going Big Grey?"

"Mark!" Meredith jumped slightly because she hadn't actually noticed him standing there until that moment. She'd been lost in her own world but when she saw Mark a smile formed on her face. "Just the man I wanted to see! Where have you been hiding yourself all day?" She called back to him as crossed the hallway to talk to him.

"I haven't been hiding," Mark said, but that was a total lie; he'd definitely been hiding. "Is there something you need from me?" Mark asked. He was feeling a little smug because Derek was about to see that he was right.

"Yeah, I was just wondering if you'd given any thought to the conversation we ha earlier," She asked conspiratorially.

"Oh, you mean when you asked me to give you plastic surgery?" Mark asked with a bit too much anticipation.

"Yeah," Meredith said with an almost flirty smile, "I really hope you'll consider it. I've heard that your bedside manner is the stuff of legends." Meredith cringed inwardly; flirting with Mark was definitely gross. But she was willing to endure it in the name of revenge.

Mark's eyes got wide. He was glad she was proving him right but he also didn't need Derek thinking he was flirting with another one of his wives. "Okay Grey, I'll think about it but right now Hunt needs you in the pit." He dismissed her quickly and unceremoniously. Once she was gone he turned to face Derek, "There! Did you see that?"

"I did see that," Derek said as he came out from behind the supply cart with a quizzical expression on his face. He looked at Mark and then at the space that Meredith had recently vacated and then back at Mark like he was looking at a puzzle with a missing piece. Then it all snapped together. "Oh my god she knows!" he shouted a bit too loudly.

"What?" Mark asked with a befuddled expression.

"She knows she's pregnant!" Derek whispered. "She knows she's pregnant and she knows that we know!"

"Huh?" Mark asked, "You lost me man."

"She knows and she's just trying to freak us out!" Derek exclaimed, "That's the only explanation for it!"

Mark was a little offended that Derek thought that was the _only_ explanation, "But what about my godlike surgical skills and legendary bedside manner…" Mark started to ask before his voice trailed off a bit; realizing how silly that sounded when he said it out loud, "Oh my god she knows!" he exclaimed. He paused for a second letting the realization sink in; he was really relieved that she didn't actually want him to operate on her. "So what are we going to do?" He asked with his arms crossed in concentration.

"First we need confirmation!" Derek called as he rushed off down the hallway with one hand pointing in the air. Mark just stared after him for a second before reluctantly following his lead.

The two men came to a stop at the doors of the cafeteria with Derek scanning its occupants. His eyes landed on a target; sitting alone in the corner sipping a juice box. He headed off in her direction. "Lexie!" He said as he came to a stop next to where she was eating.

"Yes?" Lexie asked with a puzzled expression.

"Does Meredith know that she's pregnant?" Derek asked while he looked down on her with his arms crossed.

Lexie's stomach dropped at the question. "What?" she asked to buy time before saying, "Um no. No I don't think so… Why?" she was trying to sound casual but failing miserably.

"She knows and she's trying to mess with me!" Derek said excitedly.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Lexie visibly deflated, "I would have told you but they made me promise not to tell!" This was all starting to be too much for poor Lexie.

"Wait 'they'? Who's 'they'?" Mark asked, realizing that this may have been a bigger conspiracy than they originally thought.

"Oh um," Lexie started, "Meredith and…" she really didn't want to tell them everything. She just had to think of something to say other than Cristina, "The baby!" She said, knowing how lame it sounded, but trying to back pedal anyway. Meredith and Cristina were way scarier than Derek and Mark.

Mark and Derek just stared at her for a second, "Lexie!" Derek said in a way that made sure she knew there was no why they were buying it.

"And Cristina," Lexie said and she threw her head down on the table. Then a thought occurred to her and she jumped up. "But hey! It's over now! Because _you_ can tell them you know she knows and _I_ can go back to knowing absolutely nothing!" She said with excitement.

Then Derek waved his hand in the air, "Unless…" he said as he began to form a much better idea.

"No. Not 'unless'!" Lexie whined. "This must end now!" she added with a pleading tone.

"Oh man they think that they are so slick messing with us!" Derek started with a smile, "But see they don't _know_ that we _know_ that she _knows_!" Derek said with his eyes darting back and forth like he was watching an invisible scoreboard.

Lexie was totally lost but Mark seemed to get it, "Ah yes…" he said slowly as if he too was examining Derek's invisible scoreboard. "The tables are going to turn," he said with a smirk. "They thought that they could mess with us but we are going to get them so much better!"

Lexie just threw herself back down into her chair and ate a donut that she had on her lunch tray.

**TBC**

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******Special note to Grey'sAnatomyfanatic: I was totally thinking of doing the thing with the coffee but then I completely forgot when I first wrote this chapter. Then your review reminded me so I added it in! Thanks! : )**  



	13. TOW Meredith Finds Out Part 3

**A/N: Okay here we go. This chapter picks up right where the last one left off and is still having a ton of the plot stolen from that old episode of Friends (The One Where Everybody Finds Out). This is basically it for the plot of this fic. I'm planning one more short fluffy chapter and that will be all. Enjoy. : )**

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**Baby Daddy 13**

"I still can't believe that Derek managed to keep this from me for so long," Meredith said to Cristina as the two of them sat in the Skills Lab. "I mean really, it's sweet, but what if something bad had happened. There are things that pregnant women have to that I just wasn't doing." Meredith wasn't actually doing anything productive at the moment, she was just watching while Cristina prepared for a surgery she had with Teddy later.

Without looking up from her work Cristina just shrugged her shoulders, "Really Mere, I hate to admit it but he actually did a pretty good job of keeping track of you. He's been obsessed. I didn't think he had it in him to focus that much on anything besides his hair."

"But still, he couldn't have been doing everything. I mean what about that lotion you're supposed to rub on your stomach to keep from getting stretch marks," She was grasping at straws a bit, but she was in the mood to be indignant, "Or you know, prenatal vitamins. I should have been taking those this whole time and I haven't. You know how important folic acid and iron are to developing babies." She was starting to get a nervous look on her face as she finished speaking.

Lexie decided to chime in from a few tables over where she was working on her own project. "Actually you don't really need to do the lotion thing until your stomach gets bigger and he has been sneaking prenatal vitamins into your food," she said casually.

"He's been what?" Meredith asked. "How could he have been slipping me prenatal vitamins without me noticing?" She sat up in her seat and called over to Lexie. Luckily they were the only three people in the room.

"Well really Mere, I think this whole situation is proof that you aren't always the most observant person in the world," Cristina laughed a little as she kept working.

"Most of the time it was in pancakes," Lexie started to explain, "Derek figured out pretty quickly that they were about the only thing you could keep down in the morning so he would crush the vitamins up and put them in the batter."

"_That's_ why he's been making pancakes all the time!" Meredith was amused as she started to work through the last few months, "I've been trying to figure out why my health nut husband suddenly insisted we have pancakes every day!" Then she paused for just a second, "Wait, we shared most of those pancakes. Has he been taking prenatal vitamins with me?" She asked with amusement.

Lexie just laughed and said, "Why do you think Alex wouldn't touch them?"

Before they could get any further into the conversation Alex came bursting through the doors, "Hey Mere, there you are," he said a little too quickly, "I've been looking all over for you," he seemed to struggle a bit with what to say next, "I…uh…really need your help with something at home. Like right now. So can you come with me? I'm sure Derek won't care once he knows why."

Meredith laughed out loud because she finally realized why Alex had been acting so crazy lately, but she still didn't know what he was up to now, "What's wrong Alex?" she asked with an innocent look, "I'm in the middle of my shift. I can't just leave."

"Yeah, Karev what's your deal?" Cristina asked, finally looking up from her work.

"It's just a thing," Alex started to say to Cristina, "that's happening," he paused and tried to communicate with his eyes, "right now."

The three women just stared at him blankly until Reed Alderson burst through the door. "Hey," she said as she took in the scene around her, deciding how bold she dared to be in this crowed. "Dr. Grey, you haven't by chance seen a pregnancy test lying around here somewhere have you? I think I lost mine," She smiled and tried to act natural, "Not that I think I'm pregnant or anything. I just think it's a good idea to take one every once in a while as a check. Do you ever do that?" she paused for a second as Meredith just stared at her blankly, "You know, I actually have an extra if you want to try it with me," she smiled, "It could be fun." Reed nodded encouragingly.

Meredith just looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "Oh yeah, that sounds like a great time," she said with sarcasm dripping from her words, "Unfortunately I have work to do so I think you're on your own."

"But…" Reed started to say before Alex cut her off and grabbed her arm.

"That's enough, get the hell out of here," he said in a way that told her she had very little choice in the matter. She looked like she was about to protest but he just opened the door and glared at her so she left quickly.

"What it the hell was that?" Meredith asked with equal parts shock and amusement.

"Oh my god is it 4 o'clock on Wednesday?" Lexie asked as her eyes quickly searched for the nearest clock. "The pool's gone active? Is that what you were trying to get her out of here for?" Lexie asked but it was clear that she had already figured out the answer.

"What pool?" Meredith asked as realization started to sink in.

"The one to pick the time you'll finally notice that you're pregnant," Cristina said casually.

"Oh my god Yang!" Alex yelled. He couldn't believe she just did that. Then he looked at Meredith to see how she was taking it.

Meredith just threw her head down on the table and said, "There's a freaking betting pool?" more embarrassed than anything else.

"Yeah it's actually pretty funny how it came about," Cristina started to explain but was cut off by Alex.

"Wait, do you already know?" He asked in shock.

"Oh yeah, she's known for days now," Cristina shrugged.

"Days?" Alex practically yelled, "And no one thought to tell me?"

"Not days," Meredith tried to defend herself. "I suspected yesterday and then just took the test this morning." She paused before adding, "Besides, we're kind of trying to keep it under wraps for now. Keep it quiet that I know I mean. Obviously everyone in the world already knows that I'm pregnant," she added with a roll of her eyes.

"Why wouldn't you want everyone to know that you finally clued in?" Alex asked before adding, "I mean really, this only gets more embarrassing for you the longer they think you don't know." He smirked at her.

"She's got some weird revenge plan with Cristina," Lexie said as she went back to her table to work.

"Revenge on who?" Alex asked, "And for what?"

"Revenge on McDreamy for driving her crazy for the last two months when she could have been…" Cristina paused for a second, "wait what would you have been doing differently if you had known?" she asked as if the thought had just occurred to her.

"I don't know," Meredith said with an annoyed shrug, "I would have known what the hell was going on with me and everyone around me, and," she paused while she searched for words. "It would have been better," she finally added.

"You really think it would have been better?" Alex asked.

"I don't know," Meredith shrugged, "Maybe."

"I think Shepherd had it right when he said you needed to be ready to hear it," Alex said, "Face it Mere, if you would have found out two months ago you would have totally freaked out, but instead you found out today and you look like you're handling it okay to me." He gave her a look that told her he was sure he was right.

"Whatever. The point is, we're getting revenge for the secret keeping and if you don't want to be a target you'll keep your mouth shut," Meredith responded as she crossed her arms and glared at Alex.

"Whatever. Just keep me out of it. If I don't have to save you from the hospital gossip mongers anymore then I'm gonna go back out there and actually do my job," he spoke harshly but he really was glad to see that she wasn't freaking out, and he knew that she knew he was happy for her without him having to actually saying it out loud.

After Alex left, Meredith let out a small huff of annoyance before turning back to Cristina and saying, "Men," with a roll of her eyes, "always thinking they know what's best for us when _they're_ the ones who are too damn chicken to tell their wives that they're pregnant," she continued to grumble as she resituated herself back into her chair.

She was going to keep talking, but just as she opened her mouth to continue her phone signaled that she had a text message. She furrowed her brow and reached into her pocket to check her phone. "It's from Mark," she said as her eyes scanned the message and a confused look came over her face. "He says he'll do my surgery and that I should come to his office at six for a private pre-op assessment…" She trailed off as she thought of the implications of that message.

"Wow, that sounds like code for doing the nasty if I've ever heard it," Cristina said with wide eyes.

"I just can't believe he would even think about doing that to Derek again…" she paused for just a seconds before turning to Lexie, "Wait a minute. Lexie, do they know that I know?"

Lexie just looked at her hands with a guilty expression, "No," she said quietly.

"Lexie," Meredith said in a way that told her sister that she meant business.

Lexie just sighed before reluctantly saying, "They know you know."

"Oh I can't believe those guys!" Meredith said indignantly.

"They thought that they could mess with us?" Cristina asked at the same time. "They thought that they could mess with us?" she asked again before Meredith interrupted her.

"But wait a minute!" Meredith said, "They don't know we know they know I know!" she continued triumphantly. Then as an afterthought she said, "And Lexie you can't say anything!"

Lexie just let out a small laugh and shrugged before saying, "I couldn't if I wanted to," because this was really starting to be a lot to follow.

Meredith wasn't really concerned about Lexie at the moment and so turned back to Cristina, "But what are we going to do about it?" she asked.

"Hmm I don't know," Cristina thought for a minute before an idea came to her and she jumped up and said, "I got it," while she grabbed Meredith's phone. She quickly typed up a text message and hit send before handing the phone back to Meredith with a laugh.

Meredith looked at Cristina quizzically before scanning the message on her phone. "Oh my god! Cristina!" She said when she read the message. "I can't believe you just did that! They're going to think _I _sent that!"

"Well that's kind of the idea," Cristina said like she was talking to someone who was a bit slow.

Meanwhile, back in Mark's office, he and Derek were sitting and talking while they waited for Meredith to respond to the text Mark sent her. "I don't know," Derek said, "Do you think we've taken this a bit too far? I mean really, isn't the best way out of this whole mess for her to feel like she beat me here?" His original impulse to fight fire with fire was starting to seem like a bad idea. He didn't know whether Meredith was really going to be mad at him or not, but he was pretty sure that if she was actually mad she would have just come out and yelled at him. This seemed more like something she would just do for fun; to get back at him for having this information for so long without telling her.

"Whatever," Mark interrupted his thoughts, "Meredith knows that this is all in good fun," then he paused and smiled before adding, "Besides, this will make an excellent story to tell my future godchild someday."

Derek just groaned in response. It hadn't occurred to him that the baby would be old enough to hear about this someday. Derek was saved from further contemplation on that issue when he heard Mark's phone alert that he had a new message. He waited while Mark opened his phone and read the message.

Mark let out an awed whistle before saying, "Wow that wife of yours doesn't mess around," he shook his head and handed Derek the phone.

Derek coughed as he read the message, "Well I think it's safe to say she's calling our bluff," he said as he handed the phone back to Mark with a shake of his head. He couldn't believe Meredith had actually said that.

Mark laughed before saying, "Yeah, she's definitely in it to win it." Then his smile faltered a bit as he asked, "What should I do now?" he hadn't really thought of this going on much further than it had already.

Derek wasn't really sure either, "Well I guess there's really nothing left to do at this point besides play it out," he stopped to think about what exactly that would entail, "She'll come here at six and you'll do her pre-op assessment and, I don't know, just somehow get her to crack and admit that she used her pregnancy to mess with us." Mark just stared at him dubiously until another thought occurred to him, "Hey what about the betting pool?" he asked at he looked at his watch. "It's four thirty and as far as the hospital is concerned I just lost, but I put a lot of money into that thing, and you and I both know I won. You're going to talk to them later and clear it up right?"

Derek just gave an amused smile and didn't say anything until his pager went off. "Oh, it's one of my post ops. This shouldn't take long. I'll be back in about an hour." Derek said as he checked his pager. Meredith wouldn't be there until six o'clock so he had a little bit of time before he needed to be back.

He was about to the door when Mark called after him, "Hey wait! You are going to back me up on that right?"

"Sorry, I gotta go," was Derek's only response as he headed out into the hallway. He laughed e as he headed to his patient's room. Of course he would back Mark up. He had, after all, only even placed the bet in the first place to help him out. Still, it was fun to mess with him about it.

As he walked he passed a very preoccupied looking Meredith heading in the opposite direction. "Hey Mere," he yelled after her.

She turned around and smiled, "Derek," she said with a relieved voice.

"What's up?" he asked, "Are you okay?" he put his hand on her arm and rubbed gently.

"Yeah, it's just," she paused for a second as she seemed to change her mind about what she was going to say. "Nothing," she finished lamely.

Derek knew that that probably meant it had something to do with the pregnancy, and he figured if it was anything really important she would just tell him so he decided to let it go for now. Then he realized that this was the first time that they had seen each other while they both knew she was pregnant (and both knew the other one knew). He couldn't help but smile and that idea and pulled her into a hug. "I love you," he said into her hair as she hugged him back.

"I um…love you too?" She responded, but it came out sounding more like a question. She was, however, very happy to be hugging him even if she wasn't quite sure why.

Derek just laughed. Meredith wasn't really one for big shows of affection in the hallway a work, but still she didn't protest. "Okay, I have to go check on a patient, but I'll see you later, and we should have something really good for dinner tonight," he smiled at her as he spoke, "Maybe even go out," to celebrate, he added mentally but didn't say it out loud.

Meredith watched him walk down the hallway and smiled slightly. He had made her feel better even though it was his fault that the whole hospital was driving her crazy. It almost made her feel a little bad for what she was about to do. Almost. She turned to continue walking down the hallway. She was done with her work for the day and on her way to the locker room to get changed.

The problem was, everywhere she turned there was some new person ready to harass her about her pregnancy. It was getting hard to pretend that she was still clueless. Reed had given up pretty easily but Jackson Avery had been relentless during the past hour; which was the time slot he'd purchased in the pool. He'd even gone so far as to bring her some "mislabeled" labs that said she was pregnant. At the start of the afternoon she'd been a bit worried she was taking this whole thing too far but now she was ready to make Derek, and anyone who helped him, pay.

She rounded the last corner to the locker room when she saw a group of nurses that looked like they were ready to pounce. She quickly made her way to the locker room and shut the door behind her. With that annoyance averted she went about getting ready to go home. She slowly got changed and put her stuff together and was just about to walk out when Alex came in. "Why is there a group of nurses staring at this door like someone's hiding a birthday cake in here?" he asked with his usual level of indifference.

"You mean they're still out there?" Meredith practically whined as she went back and sat down on the bench.

"Oh they're after you?" he asked, sounding slightly more amused as he made his way over to his locker.

"Yeah, it must be their hour to torture me," she lay down on the bench and covered her face with her hands. "I just wish someone would go out there and chase them all away."

Alex just laughed, "Are you seriously trying to pout at me to get me to go and get rid of them?" he asked as he changed his shirt.

"No," Meredith said, trying to sound pathetic. But then she lifted her hands off her face and Alex could see a slight smile on her face, "Why? Is it working?" she asked in an almost cheerful tone.

Alex just rolled his eyes and said, "Fine I'll go get rid of them but you owe me big. You know what happens to people who piss off the nurses," he grabbed his bag and headed for the door. Just before he walked out he said, "Give me two minutes and then you can come out. See you later Mere." Then he left her alone to wait.

Once she made it out of the locker room she didn't really know where to go. She still had about 20 minutes until she had to be to Mark's office. She decided she would just go wait somewhere close by so she wouldn't have to brave the halls twice. She was sneaking down the hallway trying her best to be invisible when someone reached out and grabbed her shoulder. She'd been concentrating so hard on herself that she was completely caught off guard and screamed a little in shock. When she turned around Cristina was looking at her like she'd lost her mind.

"Oh my god you scared the crap out of me!" Meredith said as she clutched her heart.

"Apparently," Cristina said with raised eyebrows. "I called your name like three times. What's your deal?"

"Nothing," Meredith said as her breathing normalized, "I'm just losing my mind. I really can't wait until this whole secret pregnancy thing is over."

"Whatever. You've been dealing with it for what, 12 hours? I've been dealing with it for months. You get no sympathy from me," her words were harsh but her slight smile told Meredith that Cristina was just teasing her. "Besides," she said as she looked at her watch, "You've only got like 15 more minutes until you have to be in Sloan's office and then this whole thing will be over."

"And thank god for that," Meredith said as the two of them continued walking down the hallway to Mark's office.

Meanwhile back in Mark's office Derek finally made it back from checking on his patient to find Mark pacing in front of his desk. "Hey what's up?" Derek asked, "You were fine when I left."

"Derek!" Mark said in surprise. "What? Oh, everything's fine," he paused, "Well actually I thinking that this might not be the best idea. I mean really, do you really want to watch me flirting," he shuddered involuntarily, "With Meredith." He stopped and looked at Derek for a second before adding, "That's kind of messed up."

Derek just laughed and said, "Well I had my doubts before, but now that I know how much you won't be enjoying it, I think I'll be fine." He laughed some more at the bewildered look on Marks face.

Mark wasn't deterred however and just glared at Derek for a second before continuing, "I mean what if," he paused uncomfortably, "What if," he could barely even say it out loud, "What if we get to the part of the exam where I'm supposed to, you know," he waved his hands meaningfully in the air.

Derek just stared at him for a second. Then realization hit him and he laughed, "Oh!" he said, "Yeah," he paused, "If you even think about touching my wife's boobs I'll beat the crap out of you," he told his friend with a look that told Mark to beware.

Just then there was a knock on the door, "It's her!" Mark said with a panicked expression. They both jumped slightly and looked at each other. Without any other means of escape Derek went and hid in the closet. He figured that at least this way he could keep a close eye on everything. Once Derek was safely hidden inside the closet, Mark went to open the door.

Meredith did her best to look confident as the door swung open revealing Mark alone on the other side. "Mark," she said trying her best to sound confident and alluring. No way was she letting Mark beat her at this; whatever this was. She heard Cristina snort back a laugh from where she was standing just out of view.

"Meredith," Mark said seriously, "Why don't you come in," he moved out of her way so she could enter his office. They just looked at each other awkwardly before Mark jumped and grabbed something off his desk. "Here," he handed her the exam gown, "Why don't you put this on," he paused for a second, "I'll, uh, be over here," he stood facing away from her in the corner.

She couldn't believe she was actually putting the gown on. She looked to make sure he couldn't see her and faced the wall away from him to change quickly. As she was changing she noticed the closet door was slightly open and almost thought she saw Derek in there. That made her feel much better. This seemed less bad if he was here. Plus, it would give him a front row seat for when she totally destroyed Mark. She left her pants on and just replaced her shirt with the gown "I'm ready," she said and turned around.

Mark turned from where he had been hiding in the corner and clapped his hands together. "Okay," he said, "First I just have a few of the basic questions I need to ask you," he got out his clip board and motioned for her to take a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. She sat down but then instead of going to sit behind his desk like she expected he came around and leaned against the front of it so that he was in her personal space. "Okay let's see. First of all, are you taking any medication?" Meredith almost laughed at the way he tried to make that question sound sexy.

"Um, no." She answered. On top of everything else she was also kind of experiencing a sense of deja vu because she had just been to the OB a few hours ago.

"Okay, is there a family history for anything I should know about?" He asked.

"Nope. Nothing you need to worry about at least." She answered more confidently.

Mark's eyes got wide as he read the next question on the list but he just smiled slightly at asked, "Are you pregnant?"

Meredith looked back at him and with a straight face said, "Not that I know of."

"Okay then next I'll have to examine your, um," he looked at her chest before thinking better of it and saying, "Blood pressure! I'll have to take your blood pressure!" he was very relieved that he'd figured out a way to avoid the inevitable for a little while longer, but he was going to have to step up his game if he was going to get her to give up first.

Meredith was as relieved as Mark was. She really had no plan. She was just going to play it out until something happened. She found herself wondering how she got this far without actually knowing what she was going to do. An uncomfortable silence loomed around them as he took her blood pressure. Both of them were completely on edge about the next step in their crazy competition.

"Alright, your um," Mark paused just for a second, "Your blood pressure looks okay so now I guess there's nothing left to do but," he paused again, "I'll, um, examine your…" he trailed off as he motioned with his hands.

"Breasts?" Meredith asked and was glad to see Mark flinch at the word.

"Yeah," Mark said and coughed a little.

Meredith had really hoped that he would have given up by now. "Okay," she said as she moved her hands to the ties that were holding up her hospital gown. "Here I go…" She said and closed her eyes; really hoping Mark would jump in and stop her.

When he didn't stop her Meredith wasn't sure what to do. She really hadn't planned on this going this far. She finally decided just to go for it. It wasn't like Mark hadn't seen thousands of breasts before. This wouldn't be anything special for him. She held her breath and pulled the ties. She stood there with her shirt open and waited for something to happen.

After a few seconds without a reaction from Mark she hesitantly opened one of her eyes, and almost laughed at what she saw. Mark was still standing in front of her but he was facing away from her and had a hand over his eyes. "Mark," she said to him as she tied her shirt back up.

"Yeah?" he asked, still facing the other direction.

"You know you have to look to do the exam right?" She asked smiling because she knew she had him. Even with her shirt back on there was no way he was going to look now.

"Yeah," Mark said as he turned back around to face her and slowly lowered his hand to reveal his still tightly closed eyes.

Meredith just laughed slightly and said, "You're still not quite there Mark. You have to actually open your eyes." She was being pretty bold but really, at this point even if he opened his eyes she was fine, so what did it hurt?

Mark stood still for just a moment before he finally sighed and turned back away from her while covering his eyes with his hand again. "Okay," he said, "Alright, alright. You win," he said while Meredith let out a laugh, "I can't give you surgery!" he said in defeat.

"And why not?" Meredith asked triumphantly as she pointed her hand in his direction.

"I can't do your surgery because you're having Derek's baby," He said reluctantly.

Meredith smiled widely. This was exactly the opening she had been waiting for. "Well actually you're only half right," she responded mysteriously.

"You're having someone else's baby?" Mark asked with a sort of undignified squeak to his voice.

"Nope," she said proudly, "I'm having Derek's babies." She held up two fingers while she said that.

"What?" Mark said at the same time that Derek burst out of his hiding place in the closet. "Hey you have your shirt's on!" Mark accused as he had inadvertently opened his eyes at Meredith's news. But he was pretty much forgotten as Meredith and Derek locked eyes.

"What?" Derek asked quietly, with a small smile playing on his lips.

"Twins Derek," She smiled back at him and whispered again, "We're having twins," as he pulled her into a hug.

"I went to see the OB earlier because I was nervous and I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. And I'm sorry I went without you. I hope you're not mad because I'm kind of freaking out here and I really need you to not be mad," She said all of this while he was still hugging her.

Finally he pulled back a little and stared at her from arm's length. She could pretty much tell from his smile that he wasn't going to be mad at her but he said it out loud anyway, "Of course I'm not mad at you!" he laughed, "We're going to have babies!" he paused, "Twins!" he hugged her again and kissed her sweetly. Then his face got a little bit concerned, "You're okay though right?" he asked hesitantly, "You said you're freaking out." He looked her in the eyes.

She just smiled and said, "I'm great. I promise. Just normal amounts of freaking out." For reasons beyond her comprehension she was starting to cry just a bit and so she was glad when he pulled her in for another kiss.

**TBC**

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**Haha sorry I couldn't resist the twins thing! I'm a twin myself and think it's the _only_ cool way to be! : )**


	14. The Redo

**A/N: Okay, here's my last chapter. Just a little fluff to finish us off. Thanks so much for all of your kind reviews and support. I had a good time writing this. I hope you've liked it and had some fun along the way too. Have a nice day. : )**

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**Chapter 14**

Meredith woke up early, but blissfully nausea free for the first time in a long time. She laughed to herself slightly at that. Now that she knew why it was there, it had disappeared. She couldn't believe she'd gone so long without realizing she was pregnant. With twins no less. She really was a world class avoider when she wanted to be. More than that though, she couldn't believe all of the trouble Derek went through to keep her from figuring it out. She smiled and looked over at him as he continued to sleep. He really was very sweet. Brainless at times, but sweet nonetheless. She'd never tell anyone, but she kind of hoped their children inherited his cheerful disposition. And his hair too.

She watched him as he started to stir from his sleep. He opened his eyes and gave her a curious look. "Are you watching me sleep?" he asked with a smirk. Usually it was the other way around.

"Oh, you know, I was just thinking about how pretty you are," she laughed remembering the conversation they'd had a couple months ago. "And also how pretty our children will be."

He smiled as he caught on to the memory for himself, "Children?" he asked, "Like multiple?"

She laughed out loud, having forgotten that part of the conversation. "Yup," she said and she leaned over and kissed him.

"Oh good," Derek laughed, "Because, you know, the more the merrier." He was in a particularly playful mood that morning. "Too bad we can't get like two or three more in there," he said with delight as he rubbed his hand along her abdomen.

She laughed and shoved his hand away from her. "Oh I don't think so," she shuddered when she thought about it. "Two is definitely the maximum occupancy in there." She put her own hand on her stomach and couldn't help the loving smile that tugged at her lips. She was still amazed that their babies were in there. She was amazed that they had babies at all, for that matter. She lay back down against Derek's chest and sighed, "I can't believe I went so long without even knowing they were in there."

Derek smiled lovingly back at her for a moment before a spark of mirth entered his eyes, "_I_ can't believe you were going to take your shirt off for Mark Sloan!" He laughed and jumped back a bit as she tried to take a swing at him.

"_You_ are not allowed to make fun of me!" she said with mock accusation. "Besides, I'm definitely pleading temporary insanity on that one," she kept going as he gave her an amused and skeptical look, "Yeah," she nodded. "Insanity caused by all my stupid pregnant-girl hormones that are twice as bad since you managed to knock me up with twins!"

Derek couldn't help but laugh out loud at that. "That was pretty impressive of me, wasn't it?" he said with a cocky smile.

"Humph," Meredith said as she playfully rolled her eyes, "Like you had anything to do with it." She smiled slightly at him.

"Oh but I did," Derek said with a laugh, "It's a special technique," he pulled her close and whispered in her ear, "Want me to show you?"

She meant to joke back or at least put up a cursory resistance, but suddenly his body pressed against hers and his breath on her neck were sending waves of electricity all the way through her body. She could only sigh and nod as she pulled him closer and kissed him thoroughly. Derek just laughed as he rolled her onto her back, "Now don't worry this won't get you pregnant with another set of twins or anything. I can show you the technique today but I'll have to wait to prove its effectiveness at a later time"

"Derek?" Meredith said with exasperation.

"Shut up and kiss you?" he asked knowingly.

"Yeah," and he did.

It was a couple hours later before they began to contemplate getting out of bed to start their day. Meredith lay lazily with her head resting on Derek's shoulder. "Do we have anything to do today?" she asked as she traced her hand along his chest.

"Well there actually is one thing," Derek said mysteriously.

Meredith lifted her head to look at him quizzically. "What's that?" she asked as she tried to think of something they had to do. It was the most blissfully quiet day they'd had in a long time.

"Well I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you," he said with a smile. She just looked at him like he was out of his mind so he added, "It's a surprise Mere," and ran his hand through her hair.

"A surprise?" she deadpanned back to him. She was not a fan of surprises.

"Come on don't give me that look. This is gonna be good. You'll see," he said, trying to get her to share in his enthusiasm. He had to settle for just getting her to agree to get out of bed.

It took them a couple hours to get out of the house and it was almost noon when they were finally driving towards their destination. "Come on Derek it's not like I won't figure it out in like 5 minutes anyway. Why don't you just tell me where we are going?" Meredith asked in exasperation.

"Just sit back and wait," Derek smiled at her while keeping his eyes mostly on the road.

They drove a short distance further when Meredith realized there was only one place they could be heading from there. "The ferry dock?" She asked to let him know that she had figured it out, "What, are we going to look at the house again? Is there a new development?" She asked hoping to get some information out of her enigmatic husband.

Derek just smiled and shook his head as he pulled the car into a spot away from most of the rest of the cars. It was away from the boarding area and close to some trees. Meredith now had a good idea of where they were heading but still had no idea why. Derek walked around the car and grabbed her hand as they strolled down a small path between he trees. Meredith remembered the first time they'd been there. It was a long time ago, when they'd first moved to Seattle and were just starting to date. She'd brought him there, to watch the ferryboats. They passed by this place a lot and had been back a few times, but not often since that day all those years ago. It was still a very special place to both of them.

They came to a small clearing by the water's edge and watched as one of the ferries lumbered past. When she was unable to contain herself any longer Meredith turned to her husband a smiled sweetly. "But what are we doing here Derek?" she asked.

"There was a time," Derek began slowly, "That I didn't know where I belonged. I'd just moved here from New York and I was wondering if I'd made a mistake. I didn't have any friends here, unless you count a beautiful intern who wanted nothing to do with me," he gave her a small smile. "But then one day out of the blue I saw these ferryboats and I knew this had to be the place for me," his smile got even brighter. "It was like magic. Suddenly I found these ferryboats and a bunch of land that I didn't know what to do with and I found myself thinking that maybe I could make a home here. Maybe I could make a life here. And then one day you brought me to this spot and, for the first time, I thought maybe I could even make a family here." He pulled Meredith closer to him and looked into her eyes. "I won't pretend that was the moment I fell in love with you because I honestly think I've loved you since the beginning of time. But that was the first time I could really see our future together." He steeled himself for the part of his speech and held her back at arm's length to look into her eyes. "That's why I brought you here today. Because we're finally starting our family and what I think we need is a redo."

Meredith looked back at him with a bewildered expression, "A redo?" she asked.

"Yeah," she gave her a dreamy smile, "See, I don't think I really handled the news of your pregnancy that well so I'd like another chance."

"Another chance?" she looked at him incredulously.

"Yeah," he smiled, "Tell me you're pregnant."

"Huh?" she asked, but when he just kept watching her expectantly she rolled her eyes and said, "I'm pregnant?"

Derek shook his head and laughed at her, "Come on, like you mean it. This is good news!"

"I'm pregnant," she tried again, but he just kept looking at her so she guessed it must not have been good enough, "I'm pregnant," she said again, with a smile. "Derek, were having babies," she could feel the excitement bubbling up in her a bit as she spoke, "Twins Derek. We're going to be parents." She smiled at him with a giddiness she would not have been capable of a few months ago.

Derek smiled back at her and swept her into his arms, "Meredith, that's so amazing," he said before he kissed her. He held her tight in his arms as he practically danced with her. "You're going to be such an amazing mother and our kids are going to be so wonderful and so loved," he just held her for a moment.

Meredith couldn't help but get sucked into his excitement. "They are going to be amazing, aren't they," she said with a smile, "Our pretty little babies." They just stood there together, watching the ferryboats float past and getting lost in their own thoughts of the future. They were so happy there together and, at least for the moment, blissfully worry free.

**END**


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